SEAL  AND  FLAG 

OF  THE 

CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 
1665- 1915 


**2v 


Seal  of  The  City  of  New  York  j 
1915 


SEAL  AND  FLAG 

OF  THE 

CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 


AUTHORIZED  BY  THE  COMMITTEE  APPOINTED 
BY  THE  MAYOR  TO  COMMEMORATE  THE  TWO 
HUNDRED  AND  FIFTIETH  ANNIVERSARY  OF 
THE  INSTALLATION  OF  THE  FIRST  MAYOR  AND 
BOARD  OF  ALDERMEN  OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW 
YORK  ON  JUNE  24.  1665.  AND  THE  ADOPTION 
OF  THE  OFFICIAL  CITY  FLAG  ON  JUNE  24.  1915 


EDITED  BY 

JOHN  B.  PINE,  L.H.D. 


ILLUSTRATED 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

NEW  YORK  LONDON 

{Xbe  •Knickerbocker  Press 

1915 

Jf 


Copyright,  1915 

BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S   SONS 


TEbe  fmlcfeerbocfeer  press,  Hew  HBorft 


PREFACE 

The  flag  which  has  recently  been  adopted  by 
The  City  of  New  York  as  its  official  emblem,  com- 
bining the  colors  of  the  United  Netherlands,  under 
which  the  city  was  settled,  with  the  design  of  the 
municipal  seal,  under  which  English  authority 
replaced  the  Dutch,  tells  the  story  of  the  origin 
and  early  history  of  the  city.  Founded  by  the 
Dutch  in  1626,  as  "New  Amsterdam,"  it  was  re- 
named "New  York"  in  1664,  and  a  year  later, 
on  June  24,  1665,  the  municipal  government  was 
formally  transferred  to  the  Mayor  and  Board 
of  Aldermen  of  The  City  of  New  York,  as  suc- 
cessors in  office  of  the  Burgomasters  and  Schepens 
of  the  City  of  New  Amsterdam. 

To  commemorate  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  this  event  and  to  recall  the  asso- 
ciations which  give  historical  significance  to  the 
corporate  seal  (now  happily  restored  to  its  original 


IV 


Preface 


design),  and  to  the  flag  of  orange,  white  and  blue, 
under  which  civil  government  was  established  on 
the  Island  of  Manhattan,  the  Anniversary  Com- 
mittee appointed  by  the  Mayor  have  authorized 
the  publication  of  this  volume. 

J.  B.  P. 
June  24,  1915. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I. — The  transition  from  Dutch  to 
English  government  in  the  City  of 
New  York,  by  Victor  Hugo  Paltsits        i 

II. — The  history  of  the  Seal  and  Flag, 

by  E.  Hagaman  Hall      ...       22 

III. — Report  of  a  Committee  of  the  Art 

Commission  Associates   ...       68 

IV. — Resolutions  of  the  Art  Commission  .       77 

V. — The  meaning  of  the  Seal  and  Flag, 

by  John  B.  Pine      ....       79 

VI. — Proceedings  of  the  Board  of  Alder- 
men         86 

VII. — The  Code  of  Ordinances  of  the  City 
of  New  York,  Chapter  I,  Article 
2,  relating  to  the  City  Seal, 
the  official  City  Flag,  and  the 
Mayor's  Flag        ....      95 

List  of  Members  of  the  Anniversary 
Committee      .         .         .         .         .101 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE  FACING 

PAGE 

Seal  of  the  City,  1915        Frontispiece 

I.    Arms  of  the  City  of  Amsterdam,  1578 

Seal  of  New  Amsterdam,  1654     .        4 

II.    Seal  of  New  Netherland,  1623 

Seal    of    the    Province    of    New 
York,  1669         ....       22 

III.  Seal  of  the  City  of  New  York,  1686 

Seal  of  the  City  of  New  York, 
1686 38 

IV.  Seal  of  the  City  of  New  York,  1784 

Seal  of  the  Mayoralty,  1784       .       58 

V.     Official  Flag  of  the  City,  1915         .       79 

VI.     Tablet    in    Commemoration    of    the 

250TH  Anniversary        .         .         .102 


vu 


SEAL    AND    FLAG 

OF  THE 

CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 


THE     TRANSITION     FROM    DUTCH    TO 

ENGLISH  GOVERNMENT  IN  THE 

CITY   OF   NEW   YORK 

By  Victor  Hugo  Paltsits 
Former  State  Historian  of  New  York 

In  so  far  as  historical  records  inform  us,  Henry- 
Hudson  and  his  motley  crew  were  the  first  Euro- 
peans who,  on  September  12,  1609,  looked  upon 
the  beautiful  island  of  Manhattan,  the  mother  of 
the  greater  city  of  New  York.  This  discovery 
by  the  venturesome  commander  of  the  ship 
"de  Halve  Maen"  (Half  Moon)  was  accidental. 
Hudson's  contract  required  him  to  search  "for 
a  passage  by  the  North,  around  by  the  North 


2  Henry  Hudson 

side  of  Nova  Zembla"  and  to  "continue  thus 
along  that  parallel"  until  he  should  "be  able  to 
sail  Southward  to  the  latitude  of  sixty  degrees." 
He  was  enjoined  from  going  along  any  other  routes 
or  passages  than  these  and  actually  endeavored 
to  carry  out  his  commission.  Meeting  with  dan- 
gerous icebergs  and  subjected  to  extreme  suffering 
from  fogs  and  snow-storms  in  the  region  of  the 
North  Cape  of  Norway,  dissensions  arose  among 
his  crew  which  determined  him,  "contrary  to  his 
instructions,"  to  change  his  operations  to  America, 
either  in  forty  degrees  north  latitude  or  to  search 
for  a  northwest  passage  through  Davis  Strait. 

Hudson's  voyage  was  followed  in  a  desultory 
manner  by  Dutch  skippers  from  1610  to  161 4, 
and  after  the  latter  year  several  ships  came  over 
under  exclusive  privileges  granted  to  the  United 
New  Netherland  Company,  a  trading  corporation, 
whose  privileges  expired  in  161 8.  A  few  detached 
voyages  were  made  subsequently.  In  1621,  the 
newly-organized  Dutch  West  India  Company  was 
granted  a  monopoly  in  supersession  of  all  others 
in  America.  Its  objects  were  the  weakening  of 
Spain  by  war  and  by  commercial  repression.     It 


Peter  Minuit  3 

was  this  Company  which  sent  out  the  first  colon- 
ists, who  settled  in  1624  where  the  city  of  Albany 
now  stands.  Other  settlers  went  to  the  same  place 
in  1625.  On  May  4,  1626,  Peter  Minuit  arrived 
in  New  Netherland — as  the  whole  country  was 
called;  began  the  first  settlement  of  Manhattan 
Island  at  its  southern  extremity,  and  laid  the 
foundations  of  New  Amsterdam.  During  the 
summer  of  this  year  Director-General  Minuit 
effected  the  purchase  of  Manhattan  Island  from 
the  Indians  by  giving  them  trinkets  valued  at 
sixty  guilders,  or  twenty-four  dollars.  Of  course, 
Minuit  had  brought  over  with  him  a  number  of 
colonists  and  servants  of  the  West  India  Company. 
He  soon  began  to  concentrate  in  the  new  settle- 
ment men,  women,  and  children  from  the  prior 
posts.  In  1628,  the  population  of  Manhattan 
consisted  of  only  two  hundred  and  seventy  souls. 
Now,  the  West  India  Company  had  reserved  to 
itself  the  complete  jurisdiction  of  Manhattan 
Island.  Other  parts  of  the  Dutch  province  could 
be  granted  to  patroons  or  large  land  owners;  but 
not  so  with  respect  to  Manhattan  Island.  The 
Company   reserved    its    rights   there    inviolably. 


4  New  Amsterdam 

This  we  know  from  the  Company's  "Charter  of 
Freedoms  and  Exemptions,"  of  June  7,  1629. 
That  charter  was  designed  to  encourage  coloniza- 
tion, and  the  peopling  of  the  island  of  Manhattan 
was  its  principal  concern.  The  island  was  made 
the  staple  port  of  all  products  and  wares.  This 
meant  that  the  trading  ships  were  to  unload  at 
New  Amsterdam  or  pay  certain  duties  there  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Company. 

For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  there  was 
nothing  like  a  corporate  government  in  the  settle- 
ment of  New  Amsterdam.  Its  laws  were  made 
and  administered  by  a  Director-General  and 
Council,  with  the  consent  of  the  Directors  at 
Amsterdam,  who  together  were  supreme  in  every- 
thing affecting  the  life  and  business  of  the  people. 
This  autocratic  system  began  to  annoy  the  com- 
monalty and,  in  1649,  the  resentment  took  form  in 
a  remonstrance  to  the  States  General  of  the  Nether- 
lands, in  which  the  grievances  of  the  people  were 
set  forth  at  length.  No  one  who  has  read  the 
records  of  the  time  can  doubt  the  justification 
of  the  complaints  of  the  people  of  New  Nether- 
land.     The  government  was  rigorous  and  at  times 


PLATE  I 


Arms  of  the  City  of  Amsterdam 

1578 


Seal  of  the  City  of  New  Amsterdam 
1654 


Municipal  Government  5 

contemptible.  The  States  General  had  to  con- 
sider this  firm  protest,  supported  as  it  was  by 
strong  men  and  the  sympathy  of  the  inhabitants, 
yet  there  was  a  good  deal  of  backing  and  filling 
in  its  deliberations.  On  April  11,  1650,  a  report 
was  made  by  a  committee  of  the  States  General, 
entitled,  a  "Provisional  Order  respecting  the 
Government,  Preservation  and  Peopling  of  New 
Netherland,"  which  was  designed  to  meet  the 
complaint  of  the  commonalty  by  a  removal  of 
the  causes  that  had  so  greatly  disturbed  the  con- 
duct of  affairs  in  the  province  oversea.  Among 
other  things,  it  recommended  that  there  be  granted 
"within  the  city  of  New  Amsterdam  a  municipal 
government,  consisting  of  one  Sheriff  (schout),  two 
Burgomasters  and  five  Schepens,"  .and  that  the 
Board  of  Nine  Men,  a  limited  representative  body, 
should,  in  the  meantime,  "continue  three  years 
longer  and  have  jurisdiction  over  small  causes 
arising  between  Man  and  Man,  to  adjudicate 
definitely  on  suits  not  exceeding  the  sum  of  fifty 
guilders  [$20]  and  on  higher  amounts  under  privi- 
lege of  appeal . ' '  This  was  the  foundation  on  which 
the  municipal  concessions  of  1653  were  built. 


6  Peter  Stuyvesant 

The  year  1653  was  the  banner  year  of  New 
Amsterdam  during  the  Dutch  occupancy.  It  has 
already  been  observed  that  hitherto  its  govern- 
ment was  coordinate  with  that  of  the  province. 
On  April  4,  1652,  the  Directors  of  the  Amsterdam 
Chamber  of  the  West  India  Company  informed 
Director-General  Peter  Stuyvesant  and  his  Coun- 
cil that  a  municipal  form  of  government  had  been 
granted  to  New  Amsterdam.  It  took  some  time 
for  this  communication  to  arrive  from  Holland  and 
its  immediate  execution  was  delayed.  On  Febru- 
ary 2, 1653,  Stuyvesant  and  the  council  proclaimed 
the  form  of  municipal  government  by  a  set  of 
instructions.  Strictly  speaking,  this  instrument 
was  not  a  charter;  but  it  was  embryonic  of  charter 
rights.  It  derived  its  authority  from  "the  Direc- 
tors of  the  Chartered  West  India  Company  of 
the  Chamber  of  Amsterdam,  Lords  and  Patroons" 
of  New  Netherland.  It  originated  "a  bench  of 
justice"  in  New  Amsterdam,  "to  be  framed,  as 
far  as  possible  and  as  the  situation  of  the  country" 
permitted,  "after  the  laudable  customs  of  the  city 
of  Amsterdam,  which  gave  her  name  to  this  first 
commenced  town";  but  all  sentences  in  this  in- 


City  Officials  7 

ferior  city  court  were  to  "remain  revocable  and 
appealable  to  the  director-general  and  council,  in 
order  to  be  definitely  determined  by  them."  It 
named  a  bench  of  two  burgomasters  and  five 
schepens  who  now  and  hereafter  were  to  be  sworn 
in  on  the  2d  of  February  (Candlemas  Day)  of 
each  year,  save  that  when  that  day  fell  on  a  Sun- 
day an  alteration  was  to  be  made.  A  certain 
number  of  the  officials  were  to  be  changed  yearly 
and  others  put  in  their  places.  This  was  done  so 
that  those  who  continued  in  office  could  inform 
the  new  members  of  the  former  transactions  of 
the  court.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  court  was 
limited  to  the  regions  lying  between  the  North 
and  East  Rivers,  south  of  the  Fresh  Water,  which 
was  an  irregular  stream  south  of  Canal  Street. 
The  instructions  conferred  upon  the  burgomasters 
absolute  authority  to  nominate  administrative 
officials,  but  subject  to  election  and  confirmation 
by  the  Director-General.  The  office  of  schout  or 
prosecutor  was  filled  by  the  provincial  fiscal  and 
not  till  1660  did  the  city  secure  a  grant  of  an 
independent  schout. 

During  the  entire  Dutch  regime  after  1653,  the 


8  Grant  of  Charles  II. 

city  fathers  were  engaged  in  periodical  conflict 
with  the  provincial  government  and  in  registering 
protests  to  the  Directors  at  Amsterdam  against 
the  limitations  of  their  authority  and  the  rights 
of  the  commonalty.  These  protests,  whilst  arous- 
ing resentment  in  Stuyvesant  and  rejoinders  from 
the  Directors  at  Amsterdam,  helped  to  wrest  from 
both  concessions  that  were  welcomed  by  the  city. 
On  March  12/22,  1664,  *  King  Charles  II. 
granted  to  his  brother  James,  the  Duke  of  York, 
a  part  of  Maine,  all  of  Long  Island,  Martha's 
Vineyard,  Nantucket, 

"and  all  the  land  from  the  west  side  of  Con- 
nectecutte  River  to  the  East  side  of  De  la  Ware 
Bay,"  giving  to  him  "his  heires  and  Assignes  and 
to  all  and  every  such  Governor  or  Governors 

1  Double  dates  are  given  in  the  months  of  the  years  1664  and 
1665  in  order  to  avoid  confusion  and  error.  The  English  dated 
their  records  according  to  the  Julian  calendar,  which  had  its 
origin  in  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar,  and  is  known  as  "old  style," 
to  distinguish  it  from  the  Gregorian  calendar,  known  as  "new 
style,"  and  which  was  a  reform  in  the  reckoning  of  time  that 
was  instituted  in  Roman  Catholic  countries  or  countries  under 
their  influence,  in  February,  1582.  The  Dutch  had  adopted  the 
Gregorian  system,  whilst  among  the  English  it  was  not  pro- 
mulgated before  September,  1752.  In  the  seventeenth  century 
therefore,  a  difference  exists  of  ten  days.  Most  of  the  Christian 
countries  follow  the  Gregorian  system,  except  Russia  and  Greece. 
The  latest  date  is  the  modern  equivalent. 


Grant  of  Charles  II.  9 

or  other  Officers  or  Ministers  as  by  our  said 
Brother  his  heires  or  Assignes  shall  bee  appointed 
to  have  power  and  Authority  of  Governement 
and  Commaund  in  or  over  the  Inhabitants  of  the 
said  Territories  or  Islands  that  they  and  every 
one  of  them  shall  and  lawfully  may  from  tyme  to 
tyme  and  att  all  tymes  hereafter  for  ever  for 
their  severall  defence  and  safety  encounter 
expulse  repell  and  resist  by  force  of  Armes  as 
well  by  Sea  as  by  land  and  all  wayes  and  meanes 
whatsoever  all  such  Person  and  Persons  as  with- 
out the  special  Lycence  of  our  said  deare  Brother 
his  heires  or  Assignes  shall  attempt  to  inhabite 
within  the  several  Precincts  and  Lymitts  of  our 
said  Territories  and  Islands." 


This  grandiloquent  grant  disregarded  the  rights 
of  the  Dutch  over  New  Netherland,  with  whom 
England  was  then  at  peace,  and  showed  disrespect 
for  the  charters  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecti- 
cut, as  well  as  ignored  grants  that  had  been 
made  to  certain  individuals  in  Maine  and  on 
Long  Island. 

Under  the  leadership  of  one  John  Scott,  "the 
usurper,"  the  English  towns  on  Long  Island  re- 
volted early  in  this  year  and  "divers  threats" 
were  heard  of  ill  designs  against  New  Amsterdam. 


io  The  Duke  of  York 

A  general  provincial  assembly  or  "landtdag" 
was  held  at  New  Amsterdam  to  debate  the  state 
of  affairs  and  consider  means  of  defense.  While 
these  things  were  transpiring,  the  Duke  of  York 
as  Lord  High  Admiral  of  England,  began  to  or- 
ganize an  expedition  to  put  his  patent  in  opera- 
tion. A  fleet  of  four  war-ships  was  assembled 
under  the  command  of  Col.  Richard  Nicolls,  who 
was  appointed  to  be  deputy  governor  of  the  Duke 
of  York's  territories.  With  Nicolls  were  associated 
as  royal  commissioners,  Sir  Robert  Carr,  Col. 
George  Cartwright  and  Samuel  Maverick,  to 
secure  the  assistance  of  the  New  Englanders  in 
the  reduction  of  the  Dutch  of  New  Netherland. 
Information  of  the  English  designs  was  known  in 
Boston  as  early  as  May  18/28  and  was  communi- 
cated to  Stuyvesant  by  Captain  Thomas  Willett 
on  June  28th/July  8th.  The  burgomasters  and 
schepens  at  once  resolved  to  put  the  city  in  a  state 
of  defense.  On  July  25th/ August  4th,  Stuyvesant 
wrote  to  the  Directors  at  Amsterdam  that,  owing 
to  constant  rumors  of  an  English  invasion,  his 
government  was  "very  circumspect,  anxious  and 
watchful."     He  said: 


Military  Defense  n 

"We  keep  the  military  force  under  our  com- 
mand as  close  together  as  possible,  heighten  the 
walls  of  our  fort,  strengthen  it  with  gabions  and 
make  all  arrangements  for  defense.  It  is  not 
our  least  anxiety,  that  we  have  so  little  powder 
and  lead  on  hand,  there  being  only  2500  lbs  in 
the  magazine  and  besides  that  not  over  500  lbs 
among  the  militia  and  inhabitants  here  and  at 
Fort  Orange  [Albany],  as  we  are  informed.  You 
can  easily  judge,  that  this  supply  will  not  last 
long,  for  it  is  not  more  than  two  pounds  of  pow- 
der for  each  man  able  to  bear  arms  and  then  we 
have  nothing  left  for  our  artillery,  if  we  have 
to  sustain  an  attack." 


Reinforcements  of  ammunition  and  men  were 
drawn  upon  from  other  places  in  the  province. 
On  August  18/28,  the  English  squadron  cast 
anchor  at  Nyack  Bay,  below  the  Narrows,  be- 
tween New  Utrecht  and  Coney  Island.  This 
created  a  virtual  blockade  of  the  port  and  en- 
abled the  English  to  commit  depredations  on 
shipping  and  at  Staten  Island.  Stuyvesant  who 
had  gone  to  Fort  Orange  was  urged  to  return  and 
reached  New  Amsterdam  on  August  15/25,  and 
four  days  later  despatched  bearers  to  Col.  Nicolls 
to    "desire   and   entreate"   him   concerning    the 


12  Surrender  Demanded 

"meaning  of  their  approach  and  continuing  in 
the  Harbour  .  .  .  without  giving  any  notice  .  .  . 
or  first  acquainting  us  wth  their  designe."  This 
was  of  course  merely  the  language  of  an  evasive 
diplomacy.  Nicolls  replied  on  the  following  day 
by  a  peremptory  summons,  requiring  "a  Surrender 
of  all  such  Forts,  Townes,  or  places  of  strength," 
which  were  "now  possessed  by  the  Dutch,"  and 
expected  an  immediate  answer  at  the  hands  of 
the  English  deputies  who  had  conveyed  his  mes- 
sage. On  August  22/September  1,  Stuyvesant 
wrote  to  the  Directors  at  Amsterdam  a  letter  in 
which  he  told  of  the  arrival  of  the  English  fleet, 
said  that  Long  Island  was  lost,  New  Amsterdam 
was  summoned  to  surrender,  popular  murmurs 
and  disaffection  existed,  and  the  loss  of  the  country 
was  certain.  Besides  the  depleted  ammunition 
there  was  a  scarcity  of  grain.  The  bakers  of  the 
city  estimated  that  their  united  stock  amounted 
to  only  975  skepels.  On  August  26/September  5, 
Stuyvesant  consented  to  treat  with  the  invaders 
and  on  the  same  day  Nicolls  accepted  the  proposal 
for  a  treaty  of  surrender  in  order  "to  prevent  the 
effusion  of  blood,  and  to  improve  the  good  of  the 


Articles  of  Surrender  13 

Inhabitants."  The  articles  of  surrender  were  ar- 
ranged by  the  joint  Dutch  and  English  commis- 
sioners at  Stuyvesant's  "bouwery"  or  farmhouse 
at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  August  27/ 
September  6,  and  promised  the  inhabitants  who 
wished  to  remain  "liberty  of  their  Consciences  in 
Divine  Worship  and  Church  Discipline."  The 
Dutch  were  also  to  "Enjoy  their  owne  Customes, 
concerning  their  Inheritances. ' '  This  secured  their 
property  rights.    Article  16  provided,  as  follows: 

"All  inferior  civill  Officers  and  Magistrates 
shall  continue  as  now  they  are  (if  they  please) 
till  the  Customary  time  of  New  Eleccon,  and 
the  new  ones  to  be  Chosen,  by  themselves, 
provided  that  such  new  Chosen  Magistrates 
shall  take  the  Oath  of  Allegiance  to  his  Majesty 
of  England,  before  they  enter  upon  their  Office." 

On  August  29/September  8,  the  fort  and  town  were 
formally  surrendered  to  Nicolls  and  on  the  same 
day  the  city  was  named  New  York.  This  name 
extended  itself  to  the  entire  province,  and  Fort 
Orange  was  named  Albany  in  honor  of  another  of 
the  titles  of  the  proprietor. 

On    September    6/16,    the    burgomasters    and 


14  Name  of  New  York 

schepens  decided  to  apprise  the  Directors  of  the 
West  India  Company  at  Amsterdam  of  what  had 
transpired.  It  had  all  happened,  they  said, 
"through  God's  pleasure  thus  unexpectedly,"  on 
account  of  the  Company's  "neglect  and  forget- 
fulness  "  of  its  promises.  On  the  same  day  we  find 
the  earliest  recognition  of  the  name  New  York  in 
the  records  of  the  city  court.  Fort  New  Amster- 
dam was  renamed  Fort  James,  after  the  Duke  of 
York.  Perhaps  the  earliest  use  of  this  designa- 
tion is  found  in  a  warrant  of  September  8/18. 
On  October  18/28  the  oath  of  allegiance  was  pro- 
claimed by  Governor  Nicolls,  namely,  to  be  "a 
true  subject  to  the  king  of  Great  Britain;"  to  be 
obedient  to  the  king,  to  the  Duke  of  York,  and  to 
such  governors  and  officers  as  were  appointed  by 
such  authority.  Objections  arose  to  the  taking 
of  this  oath  and  during  the  squabble  that  ensued 
Nicolls  "finally  departed  with  his  secretary  from 
the  meeting,"  and  the  meeting  was  adjourned. 
Nicolls  sought  by  explanation  to  allay  the  fears 
of  the  Dutch.  Two  days  later  a  general  meeting 
was  again  assembled  and  the  matter  was  settled 
amicably. 


The  City  Court  15 

The  burgomasters  and  schepens,  having  taken 
the  oath,  continued  in  office.  Pieter  Tonneman, 
the  city  schout,  however,  asked  to  be  relieved  from 
his  post  in  order  to  return  to  Holland.  He  was 
succeeded  by  Allard  Anthony  on  November  22/ 
December  2,  but  continued  to  sit  with  the  city 
court  until  November  29/December  9,  when  he 
communicated  "in  writing  his  retirement  from 
the  Bench." 

On  November  24/December  4,  the  city  fathers 
approved  a  letter  written  by  their  president  to 
the  Duke  of  York,  in  which  they  promised  obedi- 
ence and  said  they  deemed  themselves  fortunate 
that  the  Duke  had  provided  them  "with  so  gentle, 
wise  and  intelligent  a  gentleman"  for  governor 
as  Col.  Richard  Nicolls,  and  that  they  were  con- 
fident "that  under  the  wings  of  this  valiant 
gentleman"  the  city  would  "bloom  and  grow  like 
the  Cedar  on  Lebanon." 

The  members  of  the  city  court  before  the  sur- 
render were,  Pieter  Tonneman,  schout;  Paulus 
Leendertsen  vander  Grift  and  Cornells  Steenwyck, 
burgomasters;  and  Jacob  Backer,  Timotheus 
Gabry,  Isaac  Grevenraet,  Nicolaes  de  Meyer  and 


1 6  Oath  of  Allegiance 

Christoffel  Hooghlant,  schepens.  By  the  six- 
teenth article  of  capitulation,  they  were  continued 
in  office,  save  that  Tonneman  resigned,  as  we 
have  seen,  and  Hooghlant  did  not  sit  after  July. 
That  article  stipulated  that  they  should  also 
thereafter  name  and  elect  their  successors.  Under 
the  Dutch  regime,  they  had  been  allowed  only 
to  nominate  a  double  number,  whilst  final  selec- 
tion, election  and  confirmation  were  reserved 
by  the  director-general  and  council.  On  February 
2,  1665  (old  style),  they  proceeded  according  to 
the  new  agreement  and  "elected  and  confirmed" 
a  new  city  court  bench.  This  done,  they  sub- 
mitted their  action  to  Governor  Nicolls,  to  learn 
"if  he  had  any  objection  to  these  persons."  He 
had  not,  and  the  board  proclaimed  the  new  bench 
to  the  commonalty  of  the  city  at  the  City  Hall; 
whereupon  the  new  members  took  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  English  authority.  The  city  bench 
now  consisted  of  Allard  Anthony,  continued  as 
sellout;  Cornells  Steenwyck,  continued  and  ad- 
vanced to  presiding  burgomaster;  Oloff  Stevensen 
van  Cortlandt,  second  burgomaster;  Timotheus 
Gabry,  president  of  the  schepens,  and  Joannes 


Change  of  Government  17 

van  Brugh,  Joannes  de  Peyster,  Jacob  Kip  and 
Jacques  Cousseau,  new  schepens.  They  con- 
tinued in  office  until  the  form  of  government  was 
changed  in  June. 

At  a  session  of  the  schout,  burgomasters  and 
schepens  on  June  13/23,  1665,  Governor  Nicolls 
appeared  in  their  midst  and  had  the  clerk  of 
Matthias  Nicolls,  the  provincial  secretary,  read 
the  order  signed  by  the  governor  on  the  previous 
day,  for  the  "Revocacon  of  ye  Forme  of  Govern- 
ment of  New  Yorke,"  as  follows: 

"Upon  mature  deliberacon  and  advice,  I  have 
thought  it  necessary  to  Revoke  and  discharge, 
And  by  these  p'sents  in  his  Ma""  name,  do 
Revoke  and  discharge  the  Forme  and  Ceremony 
of  Government,  of  this  his  Ma""  Towne  of  New 
Yorke,  under  the  name  or  Names,  Style  or 
Styles,  of  Scout  [sic]  Burgomasters  and  Sche- 
pens; As  also,  that  for  ye  future  Administracon 
of  Justice,  by  the  Lawes  Establish 't  in  these 
the  Territoryes  of  his  Royall  Highnesse,  wherein 
the  welfares  of  all  the  Inhabitants  and  the  Pre- 
servacon  of  all  their  due  Rights  and  Priviledges, 
Graunted  by  the  Articles  of  this  Towne  upon 
Surrender  under  his  Ma""  obedience,  are 
concluded;  I  do  further  declare,  That  by  a 
Particular  Commission,  Such  Persons  shall  be 


18  Mayor  and  Aldermen 

Authorized  to  putt  the  Lawes  in  Execucon, 
in  whose  Abilityes,  Prudence  and  good  affec- 
tion to  his  Ma"'8  Service,  and  ye  Peace  and 
happynesse  of  this  Governm4,  I  have  especiall 
reason  to  put  confidence,  which  Persons  so 
Constituted  and  appointed,  shall  bee  knowne 
and  Call'd  by  ye  Name  and  Style  of  Mayor, 
Aldermen  and  Sheriffe,  according  to  the  Cus- 
tome  of  England  in  other  his  Ma""  Corporacons. " 

On  the  same  day,  June  12/22,  Governor  Nicolls 
had  appointed  by  commissions,  for  one  year, 
Thomas  Willett  to  be  Mayor;  Thomas  Delavall, 
Oloff  Stevensen  van  Cortlandt,  Joannes  van 
Brugh,  Cornells  van  Ruyven  and  John  Laurence, 
as  aldermen ;  and  Allard  Anthony,  as  sheriff, 

"Giving  and  Granting,  to  them  the  said 
Mayor  and  Aldermen,  or  any  foure  of  them, 
whereof  the  said  Mayor  or  his  Deputy,  shall  be 
alwayes  one,  and  upon  equall  Division  of  voyces, 
to  have  alwayes  the  Casting  and  Desisive  voyce, 
full  Power  and  Authority,  to  Rule  and  Governe 
as  well  all  the  Inhabitants  of  this  Corporacon, 
as  any  Strangers,  according  to  the  General 
Lawes  of  this  Government,  and  such  Peculiar 
Lawes  as  are,  or  shall  bee  thought  convenient 
and  necessary  for  the  good  and  wellfare  of  this 
his  Ma"!s  Corporacon ;  As  also,  to  appoint  such 


Mayor  and  Aldermen  19 

under  Officers,  as  they  shall  judge  necessary,  for 
the  Orderly  execution  of  Justice;  And  I  do 
hereby  Strictly  Charge  &  Command  all  Persons 
to  obey  and  Execute,  from  Time  to  Time,  all 
such  Warrants,  Orders  and  Constitutions,  as 
shall  bee  made  by  the  said  Mayor  and  Aldermen, 
as  they  will  Answer  to  the  contrary  at  their 
utmost  Perills." 

It  will  be  noticed  that  this  body  consisted  of 
Englishmen  and  Dutchmen,  of  whom  van  Cort- 
landt  and  Captain  Joannes  Pietersen  van  Brugh, 
son-in-law  of  the  well-known  Anneke  Jans,  had 
been  burgomasters,  whilst  van  Ruyven  had  held 
high  office  in  the  Dutch  provincial  government,  and 
Anthony,  formerly  schout,  was  continued  in  the 
new  position  of  sheriff.  On  June  14/24,  Governor 
Nicolls  appeared  in  the  city  court,  accompanied  by 
Willett,  the  newly-appointed  mayor,  Delavall,  van 
Brugh  and  van  Ruyven,  who  took  their  places  on 
the  new  bench.  Burgomaster  van  Cortlandt,  who 
had  also  been  named  as  an  alderman,  arose  and 
maintained  that  the  abrogation  of  the  old  court 
system  at  this  time  was  "directly  contrary  to  the 
16^  Article  made  on  the  surrender"  of  the  city,  and 
which  stated  that  "All  Officers  and  Magistrates" 


20  Installation 

should  continue  as  they  were,  if  they  were  willing, 
"till  the  time  of  election,"  when,  and  not  till 
then,  "new  ones"  were  "to  be  chosen  by  them- 
selves." Nicolls  replied,  and  correctly,  too,  that 
the  article  was  "not  infringed  in  the  least,  as  at 
the  election,"  in  the  preceding  February,  "other 
new  ones  were  chosen  by  the  retiring  Magistrates," 
who  had  continued  in  office  ever  since.  A  con- 
siderable debate  ensued;  but  Governor  Nicolls 
was  determined  to  proceed  in  conformity  with  his 
instructions  from  the  Duke  of  York,  namely,  "to 
establish  the  government  of  this  City  conformable 
to  the  custom  of  England,"  which  was  done  on 
this  day.  He  declared  he  had  "nothing  to  say 
against  the  service  of  those  retiring  nor  against 
their  demeanor;"  he  acknowledged  as  "good" 
what  they  had  "heretofore  officially  resolved  and 
concluded;"  but  avowed  that  he  had  "qualified 
some  English  for  the  office  on  purpose,"  so  that 
litigants,  "as  well  English  as  Dutch,"  might  "be 
better  aided  on  both  sides,"  and  in  the  interest 
of  "the  peace  and  quiet  of  the  inhabitants."  This 
done,  Governor  Nicolls  "installed"  the  mayor, 
aldermen  and  sheriff,  and  administered  the  oath 


June  24,  1665  21 

to  them.  After  the  oath  was  taken  and  "the 
customary  ringing  of  the  bell  three  times,"  the 
new  court  was  "proclaimed  to  the  Commonalty" 
at  the  City  Hall.  In  this  manner  the  transition 
from  Dutch  to  English  government  in  the  city 
of  New  York  took  place  on  June  14,  1665  (old 
style),  which  corresponds  with  June  24th,  in  new 
style,  as  we  reckon  now,  and  is  the  day  we  cele- 
brate as  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  this  significant  event  in  the  history  of  the 
metropolis  of  the  western  hemisphere. 


II 

HISTORY  OF  THE  SEAL  AND  FLAG 
By  E.  Hagaman  Hall,  L.H.D. 

THE  ARMS  OF  OLD  AMSTERDAM 

The  old  city  of  Amsterdam  in  Holland,  after 
which  New  Amsterdam  was  named,  had  a  very 
ancient  coat-of-arms,  the  principal  design  of  which 
was  incorporated  in  the  seal  of  New  Amsterdam 
and  frequently  appears  in  the  ornamentation  of 
the  municipal  buildings  of  the  city. J  The  origin 
of  its  symbols  is  interesting.  In  the  year  1296, 
when  Amsterdam  was  only  a  fishing  village  pro- 
tected by  a  castle,  it  was  almost  completely  de- 
molished as  a  punishment  for  participating  in  the 
killing  of  Count  Floris  of  Holland.  But  "in  the 
year  1342  she  fell  under  the  power  of  William, 
Count  of  Holland,  who  honored  her  with  several 

1  The  arms  of  New  Netherland,  New  Amsterdam  and  New 
York  are  repeated  many  times  on  the  new  Municipal  Building. 

22 


PLATE  II 


Seal  of  the  Province  of  New  Netherland 
1623 


Seal  of  the  Province  of  New  York 
1669 


Arms  of  Amsterdam  23 

prerogatives,  and  gave  her  new  arms,  to  wit,  gules, 
on  a  pale  sable  three  crosses  argent"1 — that  is  to 
say,  three  white  crosses  upon  a  vertical  black  bar 
in  the  middle  of  a  red  field. 

That  the  white  saltire  crosses  in  the  arms  of  old 
and  New  Amsterdam  were  not  conventionalized 
windmills,  as  is  sometimes  supposed,  appears 
from  the  following  quotation  translated  from  the 
Medalische  Historie  der  Republyk  van  Holland,  by 
Peter  Mortier,  1690: 

"Since  William  Count  of  Henegouwen  and 
Holland,  in  order  to  rebuild  in  Holland  the 
devastated  City  of  Amsterdam,  had  given  her 
many  liberties  in  order  to  retrieve  her  fallen 
powers  and  furnish  her  everywhere  with  walls, 
gates  and  canals  in  greater  degree  than  ever,  he 
has  made  a  present  to  the  Amsterdammers  of 
three  crosses  on  the  field  of  the  City's  arms — a 
sign  that  he  has  freed  her  of  much  misery  and 
cross."2 

The  crest  of  the  arms  of  Amsterdam,  an  imperial 
crown,  was  granted  by  Emperor  Maximilian  in 

1  Histoire  Metallique  des  X  VII  Provinces  des  Pays-Bas  .  .  . 
by  Gerard  van  Loon,  1732,  quoted  in  The  Civic  Ancestry  of  New 
York  City  and  State,  by  Edward  Seymour  Wilde. 

a  Translation  in  Wilde's  Civic  Ancestry. 


24  Seal  of  New  Netherland 

1 48 1  (or  1488)  in  recognition  of  the  services  of 
Amsterdam  in  the  reduction  of  Rotterdam  and 
Woerden.  The  coat-of-arms  of  Amsterdam  is 
shown  in  Plate  I. 

To  recall  a  few  of  the  many  connections  between 
Amsterdam  and  New  Netherland  it  may  be  men- 
tioned that  Henry  Hudson  who  discovered  the 
Hudson  River  in  1609  was  hired  by  the  Amsterdam 
Chamber  of  the  East  India  Co.;  that  the  first 
charter  for  trading  here  was  granted  in  1614  to 
merchants  of  Amsterdam  and  Hoorn;  that  the 
ship  which  brought  Peter  Minuit  and  his  company 
to  Manhattan  in  1626  to  make  a  permanent  settle- 
ment sailed  from  Amsterdam;  and  that  the  ship 
which  carried  to  Amsterdam  the  news  of  the 
purchase  of  Manhattan  Island  from  the  Indians 
was  called  the  Arms  of  Amsterdam. 

SEAL  OF  NEW  NETHERLAND 

The  first  local  governmental  seal  by  which 
transactions  in  New  Amsterdam  were  attested 
was  the  seal  of  New  Netherland,  for  there  was  no 
city  seal  prior  to  1654.      This  seal  is  interesting 


Seal  of  New  Netherland  25 

because  it  supplies  one  of  the  devices  used  in  the 
present  city  seal.  It  consists  of  a  shield  upon 
which,  "in  bend," — to  use  an  heraldic  term 
meaning  "diagonally," — is  represented  a  beaver, 
surrounded  by  what  appears  to  be  a  string  of 
wampum.  The  crest  is  a  count's  coronet  between 
single  stars,  the  province  having  the  armorial  rights 
of  a  countship.  Around  the  shield  is  the  legend 
Sigillum  Novi  Belgii,  meaning  "seal  of  New 
Belgium"  (or  New  Netherland).  The  whole  is 
surrounded  by  a  wreath.  Impressions  of  this 
seal  may  be  seen  at  the  New  York  Historical 
Society,  and  a  drawing  of  it  will  be  found  in 
Plate  II. 

The  Beaver,  which  is  perpetuated  in  the  present 
city  seal,  represents  the  chief  commodity  upon 
which  the  original  commerce  of  New  Netherland 
and  New  Amsterdam  was  founded.  At  that  time, 
Holland  competed  with  the  other  European  nations 
in  the  fur-trade,  the  chief  source  of  which  was 
northern  Europe.  The  discovery  of  a  new  source 
of  supply,  from  which  furs  could  be  secured  cheaply, 
was  one  of  the  principal  inducements  which  led 
to  commerce  with  New  Netherland  before  and 


26  Trade  in  Beaver  Skins 

after  its  permanent  settlement.  The  beaver  skin, 
like  wampum,  was  also  used  in  the  Dutch  and 
early  English  periods  as  money,  a  "beaver"  in 
1658  being  reckoned  as  16  guilders  and  a  "half 
beaver"  as  8  guilders.  In  1680,  according  to  the 
journal  of  the  Labadists,  Dankers  and  Sluyter,  a 
beaver  was  reckoned  at  5  guilders  Holland  money 
or  25  guilders  in  seawant  (wampum). 

An  idea  of  the  proportions  which  the  trade  in 
beaver  skins  attained  in  the  first  ten  years  of 
chartered  trading  may  be  gained  from  the  fact 
that  two  ships  returning  to  Holland  in  1624  took 
4,000  beaver  and  700  otter  skins  which  sold  for 
25,000  to  27,000  guilders.  In  1625,  5,295  beavers 
and  463  otters  returned  to  the  importers  35,825 
guilders.1  On  November  4,  1626,  the  ship 
Arms  of  Amsterdam  arrived  at  Amsterdam  with 
news  of  the  purchase  of  Manhattan  Island 
and  the  planting  of  New  Amsterdam,  and  also 
carried  7,246  beaver,  853^  otter,  81  mink,  36  wild 
cat  (lynx)  and  34  rat  skins.2  De  Laet's  Jaerlyck 
Verhael,  which  varies  the  figures  slightly,  says  that 

1  De  Laet's  Jaerlyck  Verhael. 

*  Schaghen  letter,  facsimile  and  translation  in  Wilson's 
Memorial  History  of  New  York,  I,  159-160. 


Beaver  Street  27 

7,258  beavers  and  857  otters,  etc.,  received  in 
1626  sold  for  45,050  guilders.  By  1671,  the  prov- 
ince of  New  York  furnished  "full  80,000  beavers 
a  year"1  and  the  late  Harry  V.  Radford,  in  a 
history  of  the  Adirondack  beaver, 2  estimated  that 
there  were  probably  many  million  beavers  in  the 
province  at  that  time.  There  were  beavers  on 
Manhattan  Island  when  it  was  settled  by  the 
Dutch,  and  Beaver  Street  (formerly  the  Bever 
Paatje  and  Bever  Graft)  marks  the  site  of  a  little 
stream  where  we  may  conclude  they  had  built  a 
beaver  dam.  The  intelligence  and  industry  of 
these  little  animals,  their  ingenuity  as  house- 
builders  and  their  amphibious  character  make 
them  eloquent  symbols  of  the  city  of  New  York. 
So  far  as  we  know,  the  use  of  the  beaver  in  the 
arms  of  New  Netherland,  New  Amsterdam  and 
New  York  City  is  unique  in  heraldry. 

The  words  Novi  Belgii  in  the  legend  of  the  seal 
of  New  Netherland  recall  the  time  when  the 
Belgian  and  Dutch  Netherlands  were  politically 

1  Montanus,  Doc.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  IV,  120-121. 

2  Annual  Reports,  N.  Y.  State  Forest,  Fish  and  Came  Commission 
for  1904-5-6,  pages  389-418.  This  article  may  be  consulted  for 
bibliography  of  the  beaver. 


28  Seal  of  New  Amsterdam 

united,  and  also  that  earlier  period  when  Caesar, 
referring  to  the  peoples  of  Gaul,  wrote:  Horum 
omnium  fortissimi  sunt  Belgae, — of  all  these,  the 
Belgae  are  the  bravest. 

SEAL  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM 

In  1653,  New  Amsterdam  secured,  after  many- 
petitions  and  remonstrances,  a  form  of  municipal 
government,  and  on  December  24,  of  that  year, 
the  Burgomasters  and  Schepens  asked  the  West 
India  Co.,  for  "a  City  seal  different  from  the  seal 
of  the  Province."1  On  May  18,  1654,  tne  Direc- 
tors of  the  Company  wrote  to  Stuy vesant : 

"We  have  decreed  that  a  seal  for  the  City  of 
New  Amsterdam  shall  be  prepared  and  for- 
warded."2 

The  vessel  by  which  the  seal  was  sent  from 
Holland  sailed  in  July,  1654,  and  on  December  8  of 
that  year  "the  Director  General  delivered  to  the 
presiding  Burgomaster,  Mart.  Cregier,  the  painted 

1  Records  of  New  Amsterdam,  Fernow,  I,  145. 
^Records  of  New  Amsterdam,  I,  145,  219;  Docs.  Rel.  Col.  Hist. 
N.  Y.,  XIV,  262,  266. 


Seal  of  1654  29 

coat-of-arms,  with  the  seal  of  New  Amsterdam  and 
the  silver  signet  which  were  sent  by  the  Directors 
in  the  ship  Peartree."1 

The  seal  of  1654  contains  reminiscences  of  the 
coat-of-arms  of  old  Amsterdam  and  the  seal  of 
New  Netherland.  It  consists  of  a  shield  charged 
with  a  pale  or  vertical  band  in  the  center,  upon 
which  are  arranged  in  a  vertical  row  the  three 
saltire  crosses  which  appear  in  the  arms  of  the 
mother  city.  On  each  side  of  the  pale  is  a  narrow 
vertical  band  which  does  not  appear  in  the  arms  of 
Amsterdam.  The  crest  of  the  new  arms  is  a 
beaver,  taken  from  the  seal  of  New  Netherland. 
Above  the  crest  are  a  mantle  and  a  small  escut- 
cheon bearing  the  monogram  G.  W.  C,  standing 
for  Geoctroyeerde  West  Indische  Compagnie,  or 
Chartered  West  India  Company.  Below  the 
coat-of-arms  is  the  legend  Sigillum  Amstelo- 
damensis  in  Novo  Belgio,  meaning  "  seal  of  Amster- 
dam in  New  Belgium"  (New  Netherland).  The 
whole  is  surrounded  by  a  wreath.  A  drawing  of 
this  seal  is  shown  in  Plate  I. 

1  Vanderkemp's  translation  of  Dutch  records  at  Albany  in 
O'Callaghan's  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  Ill,  397. 


30  From  Dutch  to  English 

Mr.  Wilde,  in  The  Civic  Ancestry  of  New  York 
City  and  State,  makes  a  reasonable  conjecture  as 
to  the  coloring  of  the  arms,  when  he  suggests  that 
the  shield  is  red,  the  pale  black,  and  the  crosses 
white,  as  in  the  arms  of  Amsterdam,  and  that  the 
vertical  bands  separating  the  black  pale  from  the 
red  color  on  each  side  are  of  gold  or  silver,  to 
comply  with  the  rule  of  heraldry  (violated  in  the 
arms  of  Amsterdam)  which  requires  that  color 
shall  not  be  placed  on  color  or  metal  on  metal.1 
The  mantling,  it  is  believed,  is  a  tri-color  of  orange, 
white  and  blue,  in  the  order  named,  reading  from 
the  top  downward,  the  colors  of  the  mantle  having 
the  same  significance  as  those  of  the  official  City 
flag  mentioned  hereafter. 

SEAL  OF  NEW  YORK,    1 669 

On  August  29/September  8,  1664,  articles  of 
capitulation  were  signed  by  the  Dutch  and  Eng- 
lish and  New  Amsterdam   was  surrendered   to 

1  In  water-marks  on  paper  which  was  evidently  made  in 
Amsterdam  and  which  was  used  in  the  early  official  records  of  the 
City  of  New  York  now  in  the  City  Clerk's  office,  this  heraldic  error 
in  the  arms  of  Amsterdam  is  corrected  as  it  is  in  the  arms  of  New 
Amsterdam. 


Name  of  New  York  31 

the  English.  On  September  7  (says  a  letter 
to  the  West  India  Co.),  the  inhabitants  were 
ordered  "not  to  call  this  place  otherwise  than 
New  York,  on  the  Island  of  Manhattans,  in 
America. " r  The  new  name  of  the  city  was  given 
in  honor  of  James,  Duke  of  York,  to  whom  the 
province  had  been  patented  by  King  Charles  II.  in 
March,  1664. r  It  is  derived  from  the  name  of  the 
old  city  of  York  in  England,  the  significance  of 
which  is  explained  hereafter. 

For  nine  months  the  Dutch  form  of  govern- 
ment by  Schout,  Burgomasters  and  Schepens 
continued.  On  June  12/22,  1665,  Governor 
Nicolls  signed  a  proclamation  in  which  he 
said: 

"Upon  Mature  deliberacon  &  advice,  I  have 
thought  it  necessary  to  Revoke  &  discharge,  and 
by  these  Presents  in  his  Majesties  Name,  do 
revoke  and  discharge  the  fforme  and  Ceremony 
of  Government  of  this  his  Majesties  Towne  of 
New  Yorke,  under  the  name  or  names,  style  or 
styles  of  Schout,  Burgomasters  &  Schepens," 
and  that  the  new  government  "shall  bee  knowne 

1  Documents  Rel.  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  II,  415. 

2  Colonial  Laws  of  N.  Y.  I,  1-5. 


32  Mayor  and  Aldermen 

and  called  by  the  Name  &  Style  of  Mayor 
Aldermen  &  Sherriffe,  according  to  the  Custome 
of  England  in  other  his  Majesties  Corporacons. " ■ 

In  accordance  therewith  the  Mayor  and  Alder- 
men were  formally  installed  on  June  14/24,  1665. 

It  was  not,  however,  until  1669  that  the  city 
had  its  first  seal  under  the  English  regime,  and, 
by  an  interesting  coincidence,  it  was  granted  by 
the  Duke  of  York  on  the  Fourth  of  July  (old 
style) .    It  was  authorized  as  follows a : 

"James  Duke  of  Yorke  and  Albany,  Earl  of 
Ulster,  Lord  high  Admirall  of  England  and 
Ireland,  Constable  of  Douer  Castle,  Lord 
Warden  of  the  Cinque  Ports,  and  Gouern' 
of  Pourtsmouth  &ca. 

"Whereas  I  have  thought  fit  to  appoint  two 
Seales  to  be  made,  the  one  for  the  Province  and 
the  other  for  the  Corporation  of  New  Yorke 
(:which  I  haue  sent  unto  you  by  Mr.  Thomas 
de  Lauall)  and  to  Direct  that  they  shall  be  made 
use  of  uppon  all  Publicq  Concernments,  both 
of  the  Province  &  Corporation  afores? :  These 
are  to  authorize  &  require  You,  that  from  and 
after  YoF  receipts  the  said  Seales,  you  Cause 

1  Colonial  Laws  of  New  York,  I,  ioo-ioi. 

■  Records  of  New  Amsterdam,  Fernow,  VI,  199-200. 


Mayor  and  Aldermen  33 

the  same  and  no  others  to  be  made  use  of  uppon 
all  occasions,  for  Sealing  of  Warrants,  Writs, 
Executions,  Pattents,  Graunts,  and  all  other 
Publicq  Acts  and  Instruments,  Wc.h  any  Wayes 
Concerne  either  the  Province  or  Corporation  of 
New  Yorke  respectively,  For  Wc.h  this  shal  be 
Yof  Warrant:  Given  under  my  hand  and  Seale 
at  St:  James  this  4th  of  July  1669. 

"James." 
"To  Collonell  Francis  Louelace  my  Governf  of 
New  Yorke 
"By  Command  of  his  Roy:  Highnesse 

"M:Wren." 

The  foregoing  command  and  the  proceedings 
attending  the  presentation  of  the  corporate 
insignia  are  recorded  in  the  minutes  of  the 
Mayor's  Court  held  at  New  York,  October  5, 
1669,  as  follows1: 

"Captn  Louelace  appearing  in  Court,  and 
declared  that  he  Was  Commanded  by  his  honn? 
the  Govern^  to  Present  to  the  Worshipp1? 
MayT  &  Aldermen  of  this  Corporation,  a  Letter 
from  his  honnour,  with  a  Seal  for  the  Corpora- 
tion, with  a  Silver  Mace,  and  Seven  Gownes  for 
the  Mayor  Aldermen  &  Sherif,  sent  from  his 

1  Records  of  New  Amsterdam,  VI,  196,  gives  the  date  of  the 
session  Oct.  5;  but  page  199  dates  the  document  itself  October  6. 
3 


34  Seal  of  1669 

Royall  Highnesse  to  his  honny  the  Gov?  for  to 
be  presented  to  this  Court;  Wc.h  said  Letter 
from  his  honn?  being  opened  and  Read  in  open 
Court,  jnthimating  as  followeth : — 

"Mr  Mayor,  and  You  the  rest  of  the 
Aldermen — 

"As  a  Perticular  Testimony  of  his  R.  High- 
nesse grace  and  fauour  to  this  his  Citty  of  New 
Yorke,  I  am  Commanded  to  present  you  from 
him,  this  Present  Viz:  a  Publicq  Seale  for  the 
Corporation,  a  Silver  Mace,  and  Gownes  both 
for  the  Mayor  &  Aldermen,  and  although  he 
esteemes  somme  of  these,  but  as  the  Gayety 
and  Circumstantial  part  of  Government,  Yet 
you  may  be  assured,  as  to  What  is  more  essential 
and  Substantiall,  itt  shall  receaue  all  encourage- 
ment and  hartey  assistance  from  him,  and  I  must 
further  add,  that  haveing  the  honn'  to  be  his 
Govern-  General  in  these  parts,  I  doe  assure 
You  that  Wherein  I  may,  any  Way  be  Servicable 
to  You,  I  shal  Cheirefully  apply  my  mind  to  it, 
who  professe  no  higher  Cogitations  then  what 
shal  tend  to  My  Royal  Masters  Intrest,  and 
the  Publicq  Welfare  of  those  Comitted  to  my 
Charge;  Iff  therefore  You  Will  Consider  of 
Somme  Methode  for  the  better  regulation  of 
Y-  Corporation  and  present  it  to  me,  What  I 
find  reasonable  and  practicable,  I  shall  Will- 
ingly allow  of,  and  What  appeares  above  my 
Strength  I  shal  with  the  best  Convenience  trans- 
mit ouer  to  Receive  his  R:  H:  assent,  from 


Seal  of  1669  35 

Whome  I  doubte  not,  but  you  will  have  such 
Satisfaction,  as  is  agreable  to  Yo-  Necesseties 
and  desires,  I  haue  no  more,  but  to  Wish  You 
all  happinesse  and  an  assurance  that  I  am 
"Yo-    afectionate   friend   and    Servant 

"Fran:  Louelace. 
Fort  James  the  6th  of  Octofr  1669." 


The  design  of  the  provinical  seal  above  referred 
to  is  well  known.  It  consists  of  the  arms  of 
the  house  of  Stuart,  surrounded  by  the  garter 
with  the  motto  Honi  soil  qui  mal  y  pense,  above 
which  is  the  ducal  coronet,  all  of  which  is 
encircled  by  the  legend  Sigill:  Provinc:  Nov: 
Eborac:  as  shown  in  Plate  II. 

The  design  of  the  city  seal  of  1669  is  not  cer- 
tainly known.  As  the  beaver,  which  appeared  in 
the  seal  of  New  Amsterdam,  also  appears  in  the 
seal  of  1686,  it  seems  reasonable  to  infer  that  it  was 
included  in  the  intermediate  seal  of  1669;  and  if 
the  English  seal  of  1669  represented  the  symbol  of 
the  commodity  upon  which  the  Dutch  commerce 
was  principally  founded,  it  seems  likely  that  it 
also  included  the  emblems  of  the  industry  which 
was    the    foundation    of    their    own    prosperity, 


36  Seal  of  1686 

namely,  the  windmill  and  flour  barrels.1  If  the 
seal  had  a  crest,  it  would  be  natural  that  a  ducal 
coronet  should  surmount  the  arms  of  the  Duke  of 
York's  own  city,  as  it  formed  the  crest  of  the  arms 
of  the  provincial  seal  of  the  same  year.  In  other 
words,  it  would  not  be  surprising  if  the  city  seal 
of  1669  was  similar  to  the  small  seal  which  was  in 
use  in  1687 2  and  which  is  shown  on  Plate  III;  but 
this  is  purely  conjecture,  and  must  so  remain  until 
an  authentic  description  or  impression  of  the  seal 
of  1669  can  be  found. 

SEAL  OF   1686 

On  November  9,  1683,  the  Common  Council 
petitioned  Governor  Dongan  to  confirm  by  char- 
ter the  rights  previously  granted  to  the  city, 
including  that  of  a  common  seal;  and  on  April  27, 

1  "From  the  first  settlement  of  the  government,"  say  the  Com- 
mon Council  Minutes  (I,  142),  New  York  was  the  staple  for  bolt- 
ing flour  and  making  biscuit  for  exportation.  The  industry  was 
therefore  well  established  in  1669. 

2  Mr.  Wilde,  in  a  footnote  on  page  43  of  his  Civic  Ancestry 
of  New  York,  by  a  reference  to  No.  5  of  the  Paulding  seals  in  the 
New  York  Historical  Society,  which  is  identical  with  the  upper 
seal  shown  in  Plate  III,  implies  his  belief  that  it  is  in  fact  the 
seal  of  1669,  but  does  not  actually  say  so.  Mr.  Victor  H.  Paltsits 
is  of  the  opinion  that  the  two  seals  are  not  identical. 


Dongan  Charter  37 

1686,  was  granted  the  famous  charter  which  pro- 
vided, among  other  things: 

"That  the  said  Mayor  Aldermen  and  Com- 
onalty  of  the  said  Citty  of  New  Yorke  and 
their  Successo's  shall  and  may  for  ever  here- 
after have  one  Comon  Seale  to  Serve  for  the 
Sealing  of  all  and  Singular  their  Affaires  and 
Businesses  touching  or  Concerning  the  said 
Corporacon.  And  it  shall  and  may  be  Lawfull  to 
and  for  the  said  Mayor  Aldermen  and  Comonal- 
tye  of  the  said  Citty  of  New  Yorke  and  their 
Successors  as  they  shall  see  Cause  to  breake 
Change  Alter  and  new  make  their  said  Comon 
Seale  when  and  as  often  as  to  them  it  shall 
seem  Convenient."1 

About  three  months  later,  namely,  on  July  24, 
1686,  a  new  seal — the  first  adopted  by  the  city 
itself  pursuant  to  charter  rights — was  presented  to 
the  Common  Council  and  approved.  The  minutes 
of  the  Common  Council  read  as  follows: 

1  The  record  of  the  petition  of  Nov.  9,  1683,  is  in  the  printed 
Common  Council  Minutes,  I,  104.  The  charter  is  printed  in 
vol.  I,  p.  186.  Colonial  Laws  of  New  York  and  on  pp.  290-305 
of  the  Common  Council  Minutes.  On  p.  296  of  the  latter  is  the 
reference  to  the  seal.  The  original  parchment  charter  is  deposited 
in  the  N.  Y.  Public  Library.  The  original  provincial  record  is  in 
the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State  at  Albany,  in  the  original 
engrossed  Liber  I  of  Patents,  pp.  278-309. 


38  Seal  of  1686 

"The  Mayor  Presented  the  New  Seale  of  this 
Citty  with  this  inscription,  Sigillum  Civitat 
Novi  Which  is  agreed  upon  and  ordered  to  be 
the  Comon  Seale  of  this  Citty  and  to  Remaine 
in  the  Custody  of  the  mayor  for  the  time 
being." 


In  the  original  manuscript  volume  of  the  Com- 
mon Council  Minutes  from  which  the  foregoing 
quotation  is  made,  there  is  a  blank  space  after  the 
word  Novi.  In  the  original  rough  draft  of  these 
minutes  which  is  preserved  in  the  Records  Room 
of  the  City  Clerk  in  the  Municipal  Building,  the 
word  Novi  (apparently  written  originally  Nov.) 
is  followed  by  the  word  Eboracen,  an  abbrevia- 
tion of  Eboracensis.  It  was  probably  not  copied 
into  the  formal  volume  of  minutes  because  of  the 
uncertainty  whether  the  form  "Eboracensis"  or 
"Eboraci"  should  be  used. 

The  earliest  known  impression  of  this  seal  is 
upon  a  grant  dated  September  1,  1687,  by  which 
the  city  conveyed  to  Conraed  Ten  Eyck  a  lot  of 
land  24  by  95  feet  in  size  on  the  original  water-front 
opposite  what  is  now  No.  75  Pearl  Street.  The 
document  is  signed  by  N.  Bayard,  Mayor,  and  is 


PLATE   III 


Seal  of  the  City  of  New  York,  i686, 
with  Ducal  Coronet 


Seal  of  the  City  of  New  York,  1686, 
with  Imperial  Crown 


Description  of  Seal  39 

attested  by  the  "common  Seale  of  said  citty.  "* 
It  is  in  possession  of  Mr.  Frank  Wessells  Demarest 
of  East  Orange,  N.  J. 

From  this  impression  the  seal  may  be  described. 
It  is  oval  in  shape,  measuring  2ts  inches  in  length 
1 1  inches  in  width.  In  the  center  is  a  shield 
charged  saltire-wise  with  the  sails  of  a  windmill. 
Between  the  sails  in  chief  is  a  beaver;  in  the  corre- 
sponding position  in  base  a  beaver;  and  between 
the  sails  on  each  flank  a  flour  barrel.  The  dexter 
supporter  is  a  sailor,  resting  his  left  hand  upon  the 
shield.  His  right  hand  holds  a  cross-staff  which 
extends  above  his  right  shoulder  and  from  the 
same  hand  depends  a  lead-line.  The  sinister 
supporter  is  an  Indian,  wearing  a  head-dress  of 
many  feathers,  his  right  hand  resting  upon  the 
shield,  his  left  holding  by  the  middle  a  one-piece 
bow  the  lower  end  of  which  rests  upon  the  ground. 
The  supporters  stand  upon  a  horizontal  branch, 
which  may  be  laurel,  and  beneath  which  is  the  date 
1686.  The  crest  is  a  ducal  coronet.  Upon  a 
ribbon  surrounding  the  lower  part  of  the  coat-of- 

1  A  copy  of  this  grant  is  printed  in  the  New  York  Evening  Post 
of  January  g,  191 5. 


40  Van  Cortlandt  Arms 

arms  is  the  legend:  Sigill:  Civitat:  Novi:  Eborace. 
The  seal  is  reproduced  in  Plate  III. 

The  Windmill  was  not  a  new  device  in  heraldry 
at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  this  seal.  The 
coat-of-arms  of  the  Van  Cortlandt  family,  as 
recorded  in  the  Hall  of  Records  in  Amsterdam, 
Holland,  and  brought  to  this  country  in  1637, 
exhibited  the  sails  of  a  windmill  saltire-wise,  with 
a  star  in  each  of  the  four  interspaces  which  are 
occupied  by  the  beavers  and  barrels  in  the  New 
York  City  coat-of-arms  and  with  a  fifth  star  in  the 
center  at  the  junction  of  the  sails.  The  coat-of- 
arms  of  Olof  Stevensen  van  Cortlandt  may  be  seen 
thus  depicted  in  Bolton's  History  of  Westchester 
County  (I,  100,)  and  Wilson's  Memorial  History 
of  New  York  (I,  394,  463).  As  Van  Cortlandt  was 
one  of  the  leading  citizens  and  a  Burgomaster  of 
New  Amsterdam  at  the  time  of  the  surrender  to 
the  English,  was  one  of  the  six  Commissioners  who 
met  the  English  deputies  and  arranged  the  terms 
of  capitulation,  and  took  a  leading  part  in  the 
affairs  of  the  renamed  city  of  New  York  in  which 
he  was  living  in  1686,  one  is  tempted  to  think  that 
the  idea  of  the  windmill  as  an  heraldic  device  in  the 


The  Windmill  41 

city  seal  may  have  been  suggested  by  the  Van 
Cortlandt  arms.  Windmills  naturally  remind  one 
of  Holland,  where  they  are  used  in  such  numbers  to 
pump  water  from  the  lower  ditches  to  the  higher, 
and  for  milling  purposes,1  but  it  does  not  neces- 
sarily follow  that  the  windmill  in  the  city  coat-of- 
arms  is  a  Dutch  windmill.  Windmills  were  and 
still  are  used  in  England;  and  they  were  used  in 
New  Amsterdam  and  New  York.  The  first  mill 
erected  in  New  Amsterdam  in  1626  was  a  horse- 
mill,  built  by  Francois  Molemaecker,  over  which 
was  a  spacious  room  for  religious  worship2;  but 
the  principal  sources  of  mechanical  power  on  the 
Island  of  Manhattan  before  the  era  of  steam 
were  wind  and  water.  Only  one  or  two  streams 
on  Manhattan  Island  had  volume  enough  to  run 
mills;  but  there  were  several  windmills.  One  of 
the  earliest,  which  excited  the  amazement  of  the 
Indians,  stood  in  what  is  now  Battery  Place  just 
west  of  Broadway.  In  views  of  New  Amsterdam 
from  the  south  it  appears  over  the  southwest 

1  Modern  motors  are  being  introduced  into  Dutch  windmills 
and  the  characteristic  sails  are  beginning  to  disappear,  thus 
robbing  the  landscape  of  a  picturesque  feature. 

3  Wassenaer's  Historisch  Verhael. 


42  The  Flour  Barrels 

bastion  of  the  fort.  Its  location  is  indicated  on  the 
so-called  Duke's  plan  of  1664.  Other  windmills 
were  located  on  a  hill  south  of  Maiden  Lane  and 
west  of  Pearl  Street1;  near  Church  and  Cortlandt 
Streets2;  on  the  northwest  side  of  Park  Row  about 
where  the  Municipal  Building  stands3;  near  the 
corner  of  Oliver  Street  and  the  New  Bowery4;  and 
on  the  west  side  of  the  Bowery  between  Canal  and 
Hester  Streets. s  There  were  many  others.  The 
significance  of  the  windmill  in  the  city  arms  is 
to  be  interpreted  in  connection  with  the  flour 
barrels. 

The  Flour  Barrels  symbolize  the  industry  upon 
which  the  prosperity  of  New  York  in  the  early 
English  regime  chiefly  depended.  Soon  after  the 
English  took  New  York,  the  city  was  granted  the 
staple  right  of  bolting  flour.  When  the  Common 
Council  in  1683  petitioned  for  the  confirmation 

1  Picture  of  Smith's  Vly  in  Early  Times,  Valentine's  Manual, 
1861. 

2  Rev.  John  Miller's  plan  of  1695. 

3  Nicolls  map  of  about  1665;  Lyne  survey  or  Bradford  map, 
1 73 1.  This  is  possibly  one  of  the  two  windmills  which  appear 
in  the  illustrations  accompanying  the  journal  of  the  Labadists, 
Dankers  and  Sluyter,  1680. 

*  Montressor  map  1775. 

s  Holland  map  1757;  Ratzer  map  1766. 


Exportation  of  Flour  43 

by  charter  of  privileges  enjoyed  since   1665,  it 
enumerated  among  other  things  the  following : 

"Noe  fflower  was  to  be  bolted  or  packed  or 
biskett  made  for  Exportacon  butt  in  the  Citty 
of  New  York  being  for  the  encouragm*  of 
trade  and  keepeing  up  the  Reputacon  of  New 
York  flower  which  is  in  greater  request  in  the 
West  Indies  and  the  only  support  and  mainten- 
nance  of  the  Inhabitants  of  this  Citty  and  if  not 
confirmed  to  them  will  mine  and  depopulate 
the  same."1 

In  consequence  of  that  privilege  "the  Citty 
hath  been  much  increased  with  Inhabitants,  by 
the  Manufactories  of  ye  Said  Flower,  bread,  and 
Cask,&c."2 

From  the  above  quotation  it  appears  that  the 
manufacture  of  flour  barrels  as  well  as  flour  was  a 
leading  occupation  of  the  inhabitants. 

The  Beavers  in  the  seal  of  1686  have  the  histori- 
cal significance  of  the  same  device  in  the  earlier  seals. 

The  Indian,  forming  the  sinister  supporter,  is 
represented  as  a  bald-headed  individual  in  the 

1  Docs.  Rel.  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  Ill,  338.  Common  Council  Minutes, 
I,  104. 

2  Supreme  Court  of  Judicature,  Lyndall  vs.  Schuyler,  October, 
1692. 


44  The  Indian 

absurd  woodcut  in  the  Documentary  History  of 
New  York,  volume  IV,  page  396.  In  the  seal 
itself,  the  Indian  wears  a  head-dress  of  many 
feathers  like  the  war-bonnet  of  the  Plains  Indians. 
In  the  seal  of  191 5,  this  figure  has  been  made  to 
conform  to  authentic  descriptions  of  the  Indians 
about  Manhattan.  The  Manhattan  Indians,  who 
were  coastal  Algonquins,  and  the  interior  Indians, 
the  Iroquois,  had  linguistic  and  other  differences, 
but  they  had  some  customs  in  common.  One 
was  the  way  in  which  the  men  dressed  their  hair. 
Dominie  Megapolensis,  writing  of  the  Mohawks 
in  1644,  says: 

"The  men  have  a  long  lock  of  hair  hanging 
down,  some  on  one  side  of  the  head  and  some 
on  both  sides.  On  top  of  their  heads  they  have 
a  streak  of  hair  from  the  forehead  to  the  neck 
about  the  breadth  of  three  fingers  and  this  they 
shorten  until  it  is  about  two  or  three  fingers 
long  and  it  stands  right  on  end  like  a  cock's 
comb  or  hog's  bristles.  On  both  sides  of  this 
cock's  comb  they  cut  all  the  hair  short  except 
the  aforesaid  locks  .  .  .  and  here  and  there 
small  locks."1 

1  Narratives  of  New  Netherland,  Jameson,  173. 


The  Indian  45 

And  David  Pietersen  de  Vries,  writing  in  1642, 
says: 

"I  will  state  something  of  the  nations  about 
Fort  Amsterdam.  .  .  .  The  Indians  .  .  .  have 
black  hair  with  a  long  lock  which  they  braid 
and  let  hang  on  one  side  of  the  head.  The  hair 
is  shorn  on  top  of  the  head  like  a  cock's  comb. " ■ 

This  custom  is  excellently  illustrated  in  con- 
temporary pictures  of  the  Virginia  Indians,  who 
were  Algonquins  like  the  Manhattan  Indians.2 
These  Indians  are  represented  with  only  one,  two 
or  three  feathers  in  their  hair  when  they  have  any, 
and  not  with  the  war-bonnet  of  the  western  Indians. 

In  the  seal  of  1686,  the  Indian  is  correctly  repre- 
sented with  a  one-piece  bow  (technically  called 
a  self -bow),  but  in  the  modern  seal  lately  in  use 
and  in  other  delineations  of  it,  the  bow  is  a  com- 
pound or  double-curved  bow  with  a  straight 
handle  in  the  middle.    The  eastern  Indians  did 

1  Narratives  of  New  Netherland,  Jameson,  217. 

3  Etchings  by  De  Bry  in  Harlot's  Relation,  1590,  based  on 
drawings  made  by  John  White  in  Virginia.  Picture  of  Capt.  John 
Smith  taking  the  King  of  the  Pamunkey  Indians  prisoner  in  1608 
in  Smith's  General  History  of  Virginia,  etc.  Picture  of  the  attire 
of  the  Susquehanna  Indians  on  Smith's  map  of  Virginia. 


46  The  Sailor 

not  use  the  compound  bow,1  and  in  the  standard 
seal  of  19 1 5  it  is  restored  to  the  single-curved 
form  as  in  the  seal  of  1686  and  as  authenticated  in 
the  illustrations  of  Algonquin  types  mentioned  in 
the  foot-note  on  the  preceding  page. 

The  Sailor,  forming  the  dexter  supporter,  has 
been  misunderstood  and  misrepresented  more 
than  any  other  feature  of  the  seal.  Dr.  E.  B. 
O'Callaghan,  in  the  Documentary  History  of 
New  York,  III,  398  (copied  in  Valentine's  Manual, 
1 85 1,  420),  says: 

"Supporters,  two  Indian  chiefs  proper;  the 
one  on  the  dexter  side  holds  a  war  club  in  his 
right  hand,  the  one  on  the  sinister  holds  in  his 
left  hand  a  bow.  In  the  dexter  corner  over  the 
Indian's  head  is  a  cross  patriarchal,  as  emblem- 
atic of  the  Gospel  to  which  he  is  subject. " 

When  one  sees  the  naked,  manikin-like  figure 
of  the  dexter  supporter  represented  in  the  wood- 
cut accompanying  O'Callaghan's  description,  he 
is  not  surprised  at  this  misreading  of  the  device. 
In  the  original  seal,  the  figure  is  a  very  decently 
clothed  sailor,  wearing  knee-breeches.    The  object 

1  Hand-book  of  American  Indians,  Hodge,  Bureau  of  Ethnology. 


The  Cross-Staff  47 

in  his  right  hand  is  not  a  war  club  but  a  lead-line 
for  sounding  the  depth  of  the  water;  and  the 
double-cross  above  him  is  not  a  patriarchal  cross 
but  a  cross-staff,  a  navigating  instrument.  In 
the  patriarchal  cross,  the  upper  crosspiece  is 
shorter  than  the  lower,  while  in  the  seal  the  upper 
is  longer  than  the  lower.  The  Art  Commission 
Associates  also  received  the  suggestion  that  the 
cross  was  the  emblem  of  the  Society  for  the  Propa- 
gation of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  but  upon 
inquiry  in  New  York  and  London,  it  was  learned 
that  the  Society  never  used  such  an  emblem.  In 
the  technical  description  of  navigating  instru- 
ments in  Capt.  John  Davis's  Seaman's  Secrets, 
1607,  reprinted  in  volume  59  of  the  publications 
of  the  Hakluyt  Society,  the  double  cross-staff  is 
illustrated  as  it  appears  in  the  seal,  with  the  longer 
crosspiece  (transom,  or  transversary)  farthest 
away  from  the  eye. *  The  cross-staff  is  frequently 
depicted  in  old  portraits  and  maps,  as  in  Mon- 
tanus'  engraving  of  Columbus  and  in  the  vignette 


1  For  fuller  description  of  the  cross-staff  and  the  manner  of  its 
use,  see  Annual  Report  of  the  American  Scenic  and  Historic  Pres- 
ervation Society  for  1910,  pp.  276-278. 


48  The  Crown 

on  the  West  Indische  Paskaert  by  Anthony 
Jacobsz.  (circ.  1641),  which  is  reproduced  in 
volume  I  of  Documents  Relating  to  the  Colonial 
History  of  New  York.  The  latter  is  particu- 
larly suggestive,  as  the  sinister  supporter  in  this 
vignette,  like  the  dexter  in  the  seal  of  1686,  is  a 
man  holding  a  sounding  lead,  while  the  dexter  sup- 
porter is  a  man  "taking  the  sun"  with  a  cross- 
staff.1  As  Henry  Hudson  used  the  cross-staff 
and  by  its  means  first  ascertained  the  latitude 
of  the  entrance  to  New  York  harbor,  400  30',  the 
restoration  of  this  device  in  the  seal  of  191 5  is  par- 
ticularly interesting. 

The  Crown,  forming  the  crest  of  the  seal  of 
1686,  on  the  Ten  Eyck  land  grant  of  1687,  is  a 
ducal  coronet.  This  is  surprising,  because  in  1685 
the  Duke  of  York  ascended  the  throne  as  James 
II.  At  a  date  not  known  at  the  present  writing, 
the  crest  on  the  seal  was  properly  changed  to  an 
imperial  crown,  showing  the  distinguishing  arches 
rising  from  the  circlet  and  supporting  the  orb  and 
cross.    The  Manuscript  Section  of  the  New  York 

1  The  triple  cross-staves  in  this  vignette  are  erroneously  de- 
picted with  the  smallest  cross-pieces  farthest  from  the  eye. 


Date  of  Seal  49 

State  Library  can  give  no  light  on  the  question  of 
the  date  of  the  change  from  the  ducal  coronet  to 
the  imperial  crown  owing  to  the  fact  that  all  the 
seals  which  appeared  on  documents  in  the  New 
York  Colonial  Manuscripts  or  other  manuscripts 
in  the  collection  were  so  melted  by  heat  at  the 
time  of  the  fire  in  the  Capitol  in  191 1  that  even 
on  documents  which  otherwise  were  fairly  well 
preserved  the  impressions  of  the  seals  are  entirely 
lost.  But  the  change  was  made  at  least  as  early 
as  1 701,  for  a  beautiful  impression  of  the  seal  with 
the  imperial  crown  may  be  seen  at  the  New  York 
Historical  Society  on  a  document  dated  October 
1,  1 701,  certifying  that  Thomas  Evans  had  been 
made  a  freeman  of  the  City.  This  impression  is 
so  sharp  that  it  even  shows  the  row  of  buttons  on 
the  sailor's  jacket.1 

The  Date,  1686,  in  the  seal  of  that  year  is  self- 
explanatory.     This  date  was  retained  until  after 

1  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  while  the  woodcut  accompanying 
O'Callaghan's  description  of  the  seal  in  the  Documentary  History 
of  New  York,  III,  398,  shows  an  imperial  crown,  his  printed 
description  calls  it  a  ccronet.  As  he  could  not  have  mistaken 
the  crest  in  his  illustration  for  a  coronet,  except  through  igno- 
rance, one  wonders  whether  he  did  not  write  his  description  from 
an  earlier  example  which  exhibited  the  coronet. 


50  Origin  of  the  Name 

the  Revolution,  but  then  fell  into  disuse  as  having 
no  special  significance.  In  designing  the  standard 
form  of  seal  in  191 5,  the  Art  Commission  Asso- 
ciates thought  that  in  inserting  a  date,  it  was 
better  to  use  a  date  which  possessed  some  capital 
meaning,  and  therefore  adopted  the  date  1664, 
the  year  in  which  the  City  was  first  named  New 
York. 

The  Name  of  New  York,  which  appears  in  the 
Latin  form  in  the  legend  of  the  seal,  has  an  interest- 
ing origin.  Through  the  Duke  of  York  it  comes 
from  the  old  cathedral  City  of  York  in  England. 
The  word  is  derived  from  two  ancient  roots,  ure  or 
euor,  meaning  water,  and  ac  meaning  place. 
Euor-ac,  contracted  to  York,  means  "place  at  the 
water."  The  old  City  of  York  is  situated  on  the 
Ouse  River,  which  was  anciently  the  Ure,  a  name 
now  applied  to  one  of  its  tributaries.  New  York, 
therefore,  is  a  transplanted  place-name  with  un- 
usual propriety  of  meaning.  In  some  languages 
the  letters  u,  v  and  b  are  interchangeable  under 
certain  circumstances  owing  to  well-known  phy- 
siological   causes    and    phonetic    rules.1      Thus 

1  Familiar  examples  are  Havana,  Habana;  and  Servia,  Serbia. 


Seal  used  in  1687  51 

Euor-ac,  or  Evor-ac,  becomes  Ebor-ac,  and  with 
the  Latin  termination  urn,  we  have  Eboracum. 

SMALL  SEAL  OF  THE   PERIOD 

We  have  referred  on  page  48  preceding  to  the 
inexplicable  ducal  coronet  on  the  first  seal  of  1686. 
Another  mystery  is  presented  by  the  existence  of 
another  "common  seal"  of  the  City  with  ducal 
coronet  at  the  same  time  as  the  impression  of  the 
seal  of  1686  on  the  Ten  Eyck  land  grant  of  1687. 
It  is  a  round  seal,  about  1^  of  an  inch  in  diameter. 
Upon  a  shield  are  the  windmill,  beavers  and  barrels 
as  in  the  larger  seal.  Above  the  shield  is  a  ducal 
coronet,  and  on  each  side  is  some  scroll-like  man- 
tling. It  has  no  legend  or  motto.  The  earliest 
impression  of  this  seal  known  to  the  writer  is  on 
the  certificate  of  allegiance  of  Johannes  Kipp  in 
the  New  York  Historical  Society,  dated  Septem- 
ber 8,  1687.  Other  impressions  are  upon  a  land 
grant  to  Anna  Maria  Van  Home,  signed  by  Mayor 
Abraham  De  Peyster,  and  dated  April  21,  1692, 
in  the  possession  of  the  New  York  Title  Guarantee 
&  Trust  Co.;  and  warrants  signed  by  Mayors 
Ebenezer  Willson  (1709),  Caleb  Heathcote  (171 1) 
and  John  Johnston  (17 19)  in  the  Records  Room  of 


52  Mayor  Heathcote 

the  City  Clerk  in  the  Municipal  Building.  Our 
illustration  (Plate  III)  is  from  a  very  sharp  impres- 
sion on  the  Heathcote  document.  The  document 
begins  as  follows: 

"  City  of     )  ™  Caleb  Heathcote  Esqr  Mayor 

New  York  J  of  the  City  of  New  York  To 

Samuell  Bayard  Esqr  Alderman 

of  the  Dock  Ward  of  the  said 

City  Greeting:" 

Then  follows  an  order  to  summon  the  electors 
of  the  ward  to  choose  a  Constable  in  place  of 
David  Lyell  who  refused  to  serve ;  and  it  concludes : 

"  Given  under  my  hand  and  the  Common  Seal 
of  the  said  City  the  sixteenth  day  of  October 
in  the  tenth  year  of  her  Majesties  Reign  Anno 
Dom.  1711. 

Caleb  Heathcote." 

It  is  not  known  when  and  under  what  circum- 
stances this  seal  came  into  existence.  Between  the 
granting  of  the  seal  of  1669  and  the  year  1687, 
when  we  find  this  other  seal  in  use,  there  is  record 
of  the  making  of  only  one  City  seal,  namely,  that 
of  1686  with  the  legend.  If  this  were  the  seal  of 
1669  still  continued  in  use,  the  problem  would  be 
solved,  but  that  cannot  now  be  established.    That 


Mayoralty  Seal  53 

the  use  of  both  seals  was  officially  recognized  is 
evidenced  by  the  fact  that  on  April  24  and  again 
on  October  15,  1691,  the  Common  Council  fixed 
the  Mayor's  fees  for  affixing  the  seals  at  "Six 
shill.  for  Euery  great  Seale  and  three  Shillings  for 
a  small  Seale, "  and  on  October  14,  1689,  ex-Mayor 
Stephen  Van  Cortlandt  was  directed  by  the  Com- 
mon Council  to  deliver  to  the  High  Constable  "ye 
Citys  Charter  and  also  ye  City  Seales" — showing 
that  there  were  more  seals  than  one. 

THE  MAYORALTY  AND   OTHER   SEALS   OF    1 735 

In  1735,  the  Common  Council  had  trouble  with 
Mayor  Paul  Richard  in  regard  to  the  custody  of  the 
common  seal  of  the  City.  The  Mayor  refused  to 
surrender  the  seal,  and  on  July  8, 1735,  the  Council 
appointed  a  committee  to  seek  legal  counsel  as 
to  the  proper  steps  to  be  taken  "for  Breaking  the 
said  seal  now  in  the  hands  of  the  Said  Mayor  or 
declaring  the  same  void,  and  for  making  a  New 
seal  for  the  use  of  this  Corporation."  On  July  22 
the  committee  reported  that  the  Corporation  had 
full  power  to  determine  who  should  keep  the  seal ; 
whereupon  the  Common  Council  minutes  continue : 


54  Mayoralty  Seal 

"Mr  Mayor  having  Consented  to  deliver 
the  seal  of  this  Corporation  to  the  Common 
Clerk  of  this  Corporation  for  the  use  of  the 
Said  Corporation,  it  is  Ordered  that  A  seal  be 
forthwith  made  and  delivered  to  Mr  Mayor; 
which  Seal  is  to  be  Called  the  seal  of  the  Office 
of  Mayorality  of  the  City  of  New  York,  that  the 
Said  Seal  be  Round  somthing  larger  than  a 
Dollar,  the  City  Arms  to  be  Engraved  thereon, 
and  that  the  Motto  be  (City  of  New  York  Seal 
of  Mayorality)  and  that  Mr  Le  Roux  make  the 
same  with  all  Expedition." 

The  Mr.  Le  Roux  referred  to  was  an  Alderman 
and  a  goldsmith.  On  September  16,  1735,  the 
Common  Council  approved  his  bill  amounting 
to  £5:9:3.  The  original  bill,  on  file  in  the  Records 
Room  of  the  City  Clerk  in  the  Municipal  building, 
reads  as  follows* 

"  The  Corportn  of  New  York  to  Charles  Le 
Roux  Dr. 
To  3  Oz  5d  silver  in  one  Seale  for  the 

offis  of  Mayoralty  £1:9:3 

To  engraving  the  Seale  4 :  - :  - 


£5:9:3 
pd  Charles  Le  Roux 
Sept.  16,  1735." 


Seal  of  1784  55 

The  action  of  the  Common  Council  in  July  led 
to  further  controversy,  the  particulars  of  which 
may  be  found  at  pages  263-266,  272,  288-290, 
295,  303-304,  of  volume  IV  of  the  printed  Minutes. 
The  law  of  July  8  was  repealed  and  on  October 
23>  I735>  a  new  law  was  adopted  "declaring  to 
what  uses  the  seal  of  this  corporation,  the  seal  of 
the  Mayor's  Court,  and  the  seal  of  the  mayoralty 
of  this  City  shall  be  put  unto."  There  were  now 
three  well-established  seals  with  different  names 
for  prescribed  uses. 

THE  SEAL  OF  1 784 

The  British  evacuated  New  York  on  November 
25>  x783,  and  steps  were  at  once  taken  to  reor- 
ganize the  City  government.  On  December  15, 
1783,  a  Board  of  seven  Aldermen  and  as  many 
Assistants  was  elected,  and  on  February  7,  1784, 
Mayor  James  Duane  was  installed.  On  March  16 
following  the  Common  Council  passed  an  ordi- 
nance entitled  "A  Law  for  altering  and  directing 
the  uses  of  the  public  Seales  of  this  City"  and 
directed  its  publication  in  one  of  the  newspapers 


56  The  Eagle  as  a  Crest 

of  the  city.1  The  law  appears  in  a  rare  copy  of 
The  New  York  Packet  and  the  American  Advertiser 
of  April  8,  1784,  in  the  New  York  Public  Library 
as  follows: 

"A  Law  for  altering  and  directing  the  Uses 
of  the  Public  Seals  of  this  City. 

"Be  it  ordained  by  the  Mayor,  Aldermen  and 
Commonalty  of  the  city  of  New  York,  in  Com- 
mon Council  convened,  and  it  is  hereby  or- 
dained by  the  authority  of  the  same,  That  the 
Seal,  commonly  called  the  City  Seal,  the  Seal, 
commonly  called  the  Seal  of  the  Mayor's  Court, 
and  the  Seal  commonly  called  the  Seal  of  the 
Mayoralty,  be  respectively  altered  in  the  follow- 
ing manner,  That  is  to  say,  That  the  device, 
on  the  said  seals  respectively,  in  representation 
of  an  Imperial  crown  be  defaced,  and  that 
instead  thereof,  the  crest  of  the  arms  of  the 
state  of  New  York,  that  is  to  say,  a  representa- 
tion of  a  semi-globe,  with  a  soaring  eagle  thereon, 
be  inserted,  and  that  the  Mayor  be  authorized 
to  cause  the  said  seals  respectively  to  be  altered 
accordingly. 

"And  be  it  further  ordained  by  the  authority 
aforesaid,  That  the  said  first  beforementioned 

1  The  proceedings  of  the  Common  Council  from  Feb.  10,  1784, 
to  June  24, 1789,  are  printed  in  the  Annual  Reports  of  the  American 
Scenic  and  Historic  Preservation  Society  for  1912,  1913,  1914  and 
1915. 


Custody  of  the  Seal  57 

Seal  be,  and  remain  in  the  custody  and  keeping 
of  the  Clerk  of  this  city,  and  that  the  same  be 
put  and  affixed  to  all  grants,  leases,  freedoms, 
warrants  and  other  instruments  and  writings 
which  shall,  from  time  to  time  be  made,  granted 
or  issued,  by  order  of  the  Common  Council  or 
otherwise,  provided  for  by  the  charter  of  the 
city,  and  to  freedoms  granted  by  order  of  the 
Mayor's  Court,  and  that  the  said  seal  be  not  put 
or  used  to  any  other  purpose  whatsoever. 

"That  the  said  small  seal  commonly  called 
the  Seal  of  the  Mayor's  Court  also  be  and  remain 
in  the  custody  and  keeping  of  the  said  Clerk, 
and  be  put  and  affixed  to  all  process,  issuing  out 
of  the  said  Court,  and  the  Court  of  General 
Sessions  of  the  Peace,  and  to  no  other  purpose 
whatsoever. 

"And  the  said  Seal,  commonly  called  the 
Seal  of  Mayoralty,  be  and  remain  in  the  custody 
and  keeping  of  the  Mayor  of  the  said  city  for 
the  time  being,  and  that  the  same  may,  by 
the  said  Mayor,  or  by  the  said  Mayor,  or 
Court  of  Aldermen  of  the  said  city  for  the 
time  being,  be  put  and  affixed  to  all  such  writ- 
ings and  instruments,  depositions,  affidavits, 
examplifications,  testimonials,  protests,  and 
other  matters  and  things  as  are  usual  and 
customary  to  be  certified  under  the  public  seal 
of  any  Mayoralty,  for  the  better  attesting  of 
the  truth  of  the  matters  and  things  thereby 
certified." 


58  Adoption  of  the  Seal 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Common  Council  on 
September  I,  1784,  the  Mayor  produced  the  new 
seals  as  thus  recorded: 

"  Mr  Mayor  pursuant  to  the  Ordinance  of  this 
Corporation  in  that  case  made  &  provided  pro- 
duced to  the  Board  the  Corporation,  the  Mayor- 
alty &  the  Mayors  Court  Seals  altered  agreeable 
to  the  Directions  of  the  said  Ordinance, 
which  said  Seals  being  respectively  examined 
&  approved  of  by  the  Board  it  was  thereupon 
Ordained  determined  and  declared  that  the 
said  Seals  respectively  be  adopted  as  the  public 
Seals  of  this  City  &  that  the  old  Seals  be  broken 
by  the  Clerk  in  presence  of  Mr  Mayor  and 
the  said  Old  Seals  were  respectively  broken 
accordingly." 

At  the  same  meeting  the  bill  of  Andrew  Billings 
for  making  the  seals,  amounting  to  £15:10,  was 
approved  for  payment.  The  original  bill,  pre- 
served among  the  documents  in  the  Records  Room 
of  the  City  Clerk,  reads  as  follows: 

"  The  Honble  The  Corporation  of  the  City  of 
New  York 

To  Andw  Billings  Dr. 
To  making  and   Engraving 
1784  the  Greate  Seal  of  the  Cor- 

Aug*  30  poration  £7 :  9:4 


PLATE   IV 


Seal  of  the  City  of  New  York 
1784 


Seal  of  the  Mayoralty 
1784 


Bill  for  the  Seal  59 

To   making  and   Engraving 

the  Seal  of  Mayoralty  6:10:8 

To  making  and  Engraving 
the  Seal  of  the  Mayors 
Court  1:10:0 


15:10:0 

Errors  Excepted 

Andrew  Billings" 


A  fine  impression  of  this  seal  at  the  New  York 
Historical  Society  (see  Plate  IV)  shows  a  shield 
bearing  the  windmill,  beavers  and  flour  barrels; 
the  dexter  supporter  a  sailor  in  long  trousers 
holding  a  lead-line;  the  sinister  supporter  an  In- 
dian with  full  feathered  headdress,  holding  a 
double-curved  bow  (which  the  Algonquin  In- 
dians did  not  use);  the  crest,  a  flying  eagle  ris- 
ing to  the  dexter;  the  date  1686;  and  the  legend 
Sigillum  Civitat.  Nov.  Eborac.  On  each  side  of  the 
crest,  rising  from  the  corners  of  the  shield,  is  a 
spray  or  branch  bearing  some  kind  of  flower  or 
fruit.    The  cross-staff  is  omitted  over  the  sailor. 

The  Eagle  and  hemisphere  are  taken,  as  stated 
in  the  ordinance,  from  the  arms  of  the  State  which 
were  adopted  March  16,  1778  (chapter  12).     That 


60  The  Crest 

act,  however,  did  not  describe  the  arms,  and  when 
they  were  described  by  chapter  59  of  the  laws  of 
1909  (chapter  57  of  the  Consolidated  Laws)  the 
hemisphere  was  interpreted  as  a  two-thirds  globe. 
The  description  of  1909  reads: 

"Crest:  On  a  wreath  azure  and  or,  an  Ameri- 
can eagle  proper,  rising  to  the  dexter  from  a 
two  thirds  globe  terrestrial,  showing  the  north 
Atlantic  ocean  with  outlines  of  its  shores." 

The  adoption  of  the  eagle  in  the  State  arms 
antedated  the  first  suggestion  of  an  eagle  in  the 
National  arms  by  four  years,  William  Barton 
having  suggested  the  latter  in  1782.  ■  The  source 
of  this  emblem  in  the  State  arms  is  not  known. 
The  eagle  has  occupied  a  prominent  place  in  the 
mythology,  symbolism  and  heraldry  of  both  the 
Old  and  New  Worlds  from  time  out  of  mind. 
The  Romans  carried  it  before  their  armies; 
Charlemagne  adopted  it  as  an  emblem  after  his 
coronation  in  800;  and  it  was  a  familiar  device 
in  later  heraldry.  It  symbolized  divinity,  empire, 
power,  freedom,  rising  aspirations  and  other 
noble  conceptions.     The  eagle,  phcenix  and  other 

1  History  of  the  Seal  of  the  United  States,  by  Gaillard  Hunt, 
1909. 


The  Eagle  61 

birds  used  in  ancient  devices  could  not  have 
escaped  the  attention  of  Americans  when  they 
came  to  design  American  coats-of-arms,  and  it  is 
suggested  by  Mr.  Wilde  in  his  Civic  Ancestry  of 
New  York,  that  a  phoenix  on  a  globe  in  a  Dutch 
medal  may  have  been  the  source  of  the  idea  which 
was  given  an  American  adaptation.  It  is  an 
interesting  fact,  however,  that  there  is — or  was, 
in  1 86 1, — preserved  in  the  Royal  Museum  in 
Amsterdam,  an  ancient  New  York  token,  bearing 
on  the  obverse  an  eagle  with  wings  displayed, 
rising  to  the  dexter,  and  the  legend  "New  Yorke 
in  America."  An  electrotype  copy  is  in  the  Yale 
University  numismatic  collection.  The  token 
bears  no  date,  but  the  spelling  of  "New  Yorke" 
indicates  a  pre-Revolutionary  date  and  Mr.  F.  P. 
Brewer,  in  the  Historical  Magazine  for  October, 
1 86 1  (p.  294),  attributes  it  to  the  period  between 
1700  and  1706.  But  probably  the  compelling 
reason  for  the  adoption  of  the  eagle  by  the  State 
of  New  York  in  1778,  by  the  United  States  in  1782 
and  by  the  City  of  New  York  in  1784  was  that  the 
eagle  is  native  to  America  and  by  its  strength, 
daring  and  vision,  suggests  power,  independence 


62  The  Eagle 

and  perspicacity.  Furthermore,  if  the  European 
eagle  was  prominent  in  European  heraldry,  the 
American  eagle  also  had  its  place  in  American 
heraldry  before  and  at  the  time  of  the  coming  of 
the  white  man  to  this  continent ;  for  the  American 
Indians  had  a  system  of  military,  tribal  and  family 
designation  "comparable  with  the  heraldic  system 
of  Europe"1  and  the  eagle  was  depicted  on  the 
body,  totem  poles,  baskets,  pottery  and  wigwams 
and  by  all  the  methods  of  art  expression  known 
to  the  aborigines.  In  New  York  State,  where  the 
eagle  is  bred,  it  was  represented  in  the  tribal 
pictography  of  the  Iroquois2  and  probably  of  the 
coastal  tribes.  The  eagle  was  universally  vener- 
ated by  the  natives  and  occupies  a  large  place  in 
their  religious  ceremonies  to  this  day.  Its  feathers 
are  highly  prized  not  only  for  ceremonial  purposes 
but  also  for  personal  adornment,  as  appears  from 
the  head  decoration  of  the  coastal  tribes  and  the 
elaborate  war-bonnet  of  the  Plains  Indians.  A 
tail  of  twelve  war-feathers  is  said  to  be  worth  a 
pony  among  the  latter. 

1  Handbook    of    American    Indians.      Hodge,     Bureau     of 
Ethnology. 

3  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,I,  page  4  and  illustrations. 


Standard  Design  63 

As  the  city  fathers  of  1784  saw  no  incongruity 
in  associating  the  American  eagle  with  the  pre- 
Revolutionary  date  of  1686  in  their  amended 
seal,  the  city  fathers  of  191 5  have  had  no  hesita- 
tion on  account  of  the  eagle  crest  in  setting  back 
the  date  on  the  standardized  seal  a  few  years 
farther  to  the  historic  year  1664  in  which  the  City 
of  New  York  was  baptized  with  its  present  name. 

VARIATIONS  IN  REPRESENTATIONS 

The  compelling  reason  for  the  Art  Commis- 
sion's recommendation  of  a  standard  design  for  the 
City  seal  was  that  both  in  times  past  and  at  the 
present  time  no  fixed  design  has  been  adhered  to 
in  the  delineation  of  the  City  arms.  In  woodcuts 
of  the  beaver  these  animals  sometimes  appear 
like  dogs  and  sometimes  like  pigs  with  pointed 
snouts.  The  Indian  is  represented  with  a  western 
war-bonnet  on  his  head  (seal  of  1686),  or  bald- 
headed  (woodcut  of  same),  or  with  a  cluster  of 
feathers  like  a  rooster's  tail  (Mayor's  Passport, 
Corporation  Manual,  1870).  His  apron  follows 
the  styles  of  different  tribes  at  different  times.  His 
bow  is  the  long  one-piece  bow,  and  also  the  double- 


64  Diverse  Designs 

curved  bow.  He  shifts  uneasily  from  the  sinister 
side  to  the  dexter  side,  and  when  he  gets  tired  he 
sits  down  (Diagram  of  Aldermen's  Chamber,  1854, 
in  Corporation  Manual).  The  dexter  supporter 
is  equally  unreliable  in  his  conduct  and  more 
uncertain  as  to  nationality  and  occupation.  The 
learned  Dr.  E.  B.  O'Callaghan  took  him  for  an 
Indian,  and  in  the  great  medallion  inlaid  in  the 
pavement  on  the  south  side  of  the  Soldiers  and 
Sailors  Monument  in  Riverside  Park  he  is  repre- 
sented as  a  farmer  holding  a  spade;  but  the  con- 
sensus of  public  opinion  is  that  he  is  a  sailor.  At 
times  he  is  naked  as  if  for  a  plunge  overboard 
(O'Callaghan's  wood-cut) ;  but  that  he  has  a 
generous  wardrobe  is  evident  from  the  fact  that 
he  wears  knee-breeches  (1686),  longer  "pants" 
(1784),  close-fitting  trousers  (1854)  an^  long  white 
sailor's  trousers  which  roll  up  at  the  bottom 
(1870).  In  the  '5o's  and  '70's,  he  has  a  coat  with 
rolling  lapels,  waistcoat,  necktie  and  stove-pipe 
hat.  Beginning  with  a  smooth  face  so  far  as  can 
be  learned,  in  the  '6o's  he  wore  side-whiskers 
(Manual  title-page)  and  now  sometimes  ap- 
pears provided  with   ample  chin   whiskers.     He 


Diverse  Designs  65 

exchanges  places  with  the  Indian  from  time  to 
time,  strikes  different  aesthetic  attitudes  (letter- 
head of  the  Board  of  Aldermen)  and  keeps  the 
Indian  company  in  sitting  down  occasionally 
(Mayor's  Passport,  Manual,  1870).  He  also 
keeps  progress  with  the  times  in  nautical  science. 
He  discards  the  old  cross-staff  (or  what  was 
equally  useless  in  navigation,  the  patriarchal  cross) 
and  contents  himself  for  a  while  with  the  lead-line ; 
but  as  time  goes  on  he  acquires  a  sextant,  and  in 
order  that  he  may  not  again  be  taken  for  an  Indian, 
he  is  represented  with  an  anchor  and  ships,  which 
surely  indicate  his  nautical  character.  The  eagle, 
too,  is  restless  on  his  perch,  as  perhaps  is  to  be 
expected  of  a  liberty  loving  eagle.  In  1784  he  is 
rising  to  the  dexter,  as  required  by  law,  but  in 
the  19th  century  he  mounts  in  the  other  direction. 
Generally  he  looks  where  he  is  going,  but  occasion- 
ally he  looks  backward  to  see  if  he  is  being  followed, 
as  has  been  his  habit  of  late  years  (present  City 
seal).  Just  after  the  Revolution,  some  flowers 
sprang  up  around  the  eagle  (seal  of  1784),  but 
with  the  increasing  population  of  the  City  the 
opportunities  for  gardening  have  grown  less  and 


66  The  Official  Flag 

the  flowers  have  disappeared,  together  with  the 
old  date  1686  which  was  retained  for  a  while  in 
the  same  seal. 

This  review  of  the  vagaries  in  the  representa- 
tion of  the  City  arms  might  be  extended  almost 
indefinitely  with  examples  from  official  seals, 
letterheads,  interior  and  exterior  decorations  of 
public  buildings,  policemen's  badges  and  buttons, 
door-knobs  in  the  court  rooms,  lamp-posts,  etc.; 
but  enough  has  been  said  to  enable  the  reader  to 
appreciate  the  motives  of  the  Art  Commission 
Associates  in  recommending  a  standard  design 
in  their  report  to  the  Art  Commission  on  January 
9,  1915. 

THE  OFFICIAL  FLAG 

The  reasons  for  the  recommendation  of  an 
official  City  Flag  are  set  forth  in  the  report  of  the 
Art  Commission  Associates  dated  January  9,  1915. 

With  respect  to  the  perpendicular  arrangement 
of  the  colors  of  the  flag  it  may  be  added  that  the 
flag  is  not  an  imitation  of  the  flag  of  the  Nether- 
lands, the  Dutch  East  India  Company  or  the 
Dutch  West   India  Company,   but  a  new  flag, 


Municipal  Colors  67 

embodying  the  historic  colors  of  the  Netherlands 
arranged  in  a  distinctive  way.  The  perpendicular 
arrangement  follows  that  of  the  ensign  of  the  old 
City  of  Amsterdam,  in  which  the  municipal  colors 
- — red,  black  and  red  (with  three  white  saltire 
crosses  on  the  black) — are  so  arranged;  also  of 
the  old  flag  of  the  City  of  Paris  which  was  of  two 
colors,  red  and  blue,  arranged  perpendicularly.1 
(At  present  Paris  has  no  other  flag  than  the 
French  tri-color.)  The  order  of  the  arrangement 
of  the  municipal  colors  of  New  York  also  follows 
the  practice,  exemplified  in  the  French,  Belgian 
and  other  tri-colors,  of  placing  the  darkest  bar 
next  to  the  staff.  The  placing  of  the  City  arms 
upon  the  flag  follows  in  this  respect  not  only  the 
unofficial  city  flag  formerly  in  use  but  also  other 
precedent. 

1  Mr.  Louis  Annin  Ames,  president  of  Annin  &  Co.,  flag  makers. 


Ill 

ART  COMMISSION  ASSOCIATES 

REPORT  ON  THE 

RESTORATION    OF   THE   ANCIENT   CORPORATE    SEAL 

AND  THE 

ADOPTION  OF  AN  OFFICIAL  FLAG 

New  York,  January  9th,  1915. 

To  the  Art  Commission 

of  the  City  of  New  York. 
Gentlemen : 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Art  Commission 
Associates  held  in  January  last  the  undersigned 
were  appointed  a  committee  to  consider  and  report : 

1.  An  accurate  rendering  of  the  corporate 

seal  of  the  City. 

2.  A  suitable  design  for  a  flag  to  be  adopted 

as  the  official  colors  of  the  City  of  New 
York. 

68 


Design  of  the  Seal  69 

As  to  the  design  of  the  City  seal  your  Committee 
report  that  it  has  been  their  endeavor  only  to 
secure  an  accurate  and  artistic  rendering  of  the 
seal  of  the  City  as  heretofore  adopted  and  now  in 
use,  in  order  to  establish  a  well  authenticated  and 
properly  executed  standard.  At  the  present  time 
there  is  no  standard  of  design  for  the  City  seal, 
and  while  the  seals  now  in  use  in  the  Mayor's 
office  and  in  the  City  departments  conform  in 
general  character,  scarcely  any  two  of  them  are 
exactly  alike  and  most  of  them  are  inaccurate 
and  highly  inartistic  in  execution.  For  the  sake 
of  consistency  the  seal  wherever  used  should  be 
absolutely  uniform  in  design.  It  should  also  be 
as  nearly  accurate  historically  as  possible  and 
should  be  designed  and  executed  with  the  highest 
artistic  skill  and  with  reference  to  its  use  not  only 
as  an  imprint  on  official  documents  but  as  an  archi- 
tectural feature  when  carved  on  municipal  build- 
ings. In  the  latter  aspect  the  need  for  a  carefully 
studied  and  officially  recognized  design  is  of  in- 
creasing importance  in  view  of  the  greater  promi- 
nence which  is  now  given  to  the  seal  as  an  emblem 
and  ornament  upon  buildings  erected  by  the  City. 


70  Dongan  Charter 

An  examination  of  the  records  enabled  your 
Committee  to  obtain  photographs  of  early  impres- 
sions of  the  first  City  seal  of  which  we  have  any 
exact  information,  adopted  after  the  City  came 
into  the  possession  of  the  British  in  1664  and  took 
the  name  "New  York."  The  Dongan  Charter  of 
April  2J,  1686,  gave  authority  to  the  Mayor, 
Aldermen  and  Commonalty  and  their  successors 
"as  they  shall  see  cause  to  break,  change,  alter 
and  new  make  their  said  Common  Seal  when  and 
as  often  as  to  them  shall  seem  convenient"  {Co- 
lonial Laws  of  New  York,  1: 186).  Mr.  Victor  H. 
Paltsits,  formerly  State  Historian,  is  authority  for 
the  statement  that  the  seal  so  granted,  known  as 
the  "Seal  of  1686,"  was  the  first  City  seal  depend- 
ing upon  charter  rights.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
Common  Council  held  on  July  24,  1686,  the 
Mayor  presented  "the  New  Seale  of  this  City" 
(Minutes  Com.  Coun.,  I:  179),  and  of  this  seal 
Martha  Lamb  says  in  her  History  of  New  York 
(I:  318): 

"It  was  richer  and  more  elaborate  than  the 
old  Dutch  city  seal ;  but  it  preserved  the  beaver, 
with  the  addition  of  a  flour  barrel  and  the  arms 


Model  of  the  Seal  71 

of  a  windmill,  signifying  the  prevailing  com- 
merce and  industry." 


The  design  of  the  seal  of  1686  was  modified  in  1784 
by  the  substitution  of  the  eagle  in  place  of  the 
royal  crown  as  a  crest,  and  has  been  reproduced 
with  this  alteration,  and  the  insertion  of  the  date 
"1664"  in  place  of  "1686." 

The  Committee  have  also  been  so  fortunate  as 
to  secure  the  services  of  Mr.  Paul  Manship,  the 
well-known  sculptor,  to  execute  a  model  of  the 
seal  from  the  photographs  above  mentioned.  In 
this  model,  which  is  submitted  herewith,  all  the 
details  of  the  original  seal  are  rendered  with  his- 
toric accuracy  and  fine  artistic  feeling,  and  your 
Committee  feel  that  Mr.  Manship  has  performed 
an  important  public  service  in  thus  preserving  both 
the  design  and  the  spirit  of  the  ancient  seal  of  the 
City  in  a  form  which  is  available  for  use  as  a  seal 
in  the  literal  sense  of  the  term  and  also  as  an 
imprint  and  architectural  ornament. 

Your  Committee  therefore  recommend  that  the 
model  so  executed  be  adopted  as  the  official  design 
of  the  City  seal,  that  it  be  cast  in  bronze  or  other 


72  Former  Flag 

permanent  form  and  kept  in  the  Mayor's  office, 
and  that  all  representations  of  the  seal  impressed 
or  printed  on  City  documents  or  carved  on  City 
buildings  hereafter  shall  be  required  to  conform  to 
this  design . 

As  to  the  City  flag  your  committee  beg  to 
report  that  the  flag  now  in  use  consists  of  a  white 
field  bearing  the  seal  of  the  City  in  dark  blue.  An 
exhaustive  examination  of  the  City  records,  how- 
ever, has  failed  to  disclose  any  resolution  or  other 
official  action  adopting  the  design  of  a  flag  for  the 
City,  nor  has  it  been  possible  to  determine  when 
the  present  flag  came  into  use ;  though  resolutions 
have  been  passed  from  time  to  time  by  the  Board 
of  Aldermen  directing  the  making  of  new  City 
flags.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  present  flag  is 
not  distinctive  and  has  neither  historical  associa- 
tion nor  artistic  merit  to  commend  it  and  that  there 
appears  to  be  no  authority  for  its  use  except  the 
mere  fact  of  usage,  your  Committee  are  of  the 
opinion  that  the  City  may  properly  and  advan- 
tageously direct  its  discontinuance  and  adopt  for 
the  official  flag  a  design  which  shall  possess  both 
historic  association  and  artistic  merit  and  which 


Historic  Colors  73 

shall  also  be  readily  distinguishable  from  other 
flags  in  general  use. 

Considered  historically  the  colors  which  na- 
turally suggest  themselves  are  those  which  first 
floated  over  the  Island  of  Manhattan,  viz.:  the 
orange,  white  and  blue  of  the  Dutch  West  India 
Company — which  were  also  the  colors  of  the  United 
Provinces  of  the  Netherlands  in  1609  when  Henry 
Hudson  discovered  the  river  named  after  him  and 
when  in  1626  New  Amsterdam  was  settled  by  the 
Dutch.  The  origin  of  the  Dutch  flag  is  set  forth 
in  a  history  entitled  Oorsprong  der  Nederlandsche 
Vlag"  by  J.  C.  Dejonge,  published  at  Amsterdam 
in  1 83 1,  from  which  the  following  translation  is 
made: 

"The  Netherlands  are  not  indebted  to  an 
alien  prince  for  their  famous  flag,  but  the  origi- 
nator of  the  same  is  the  Prince  of  Orange,  that 
William  I,  beyond  all  praise,  who  is  also  the 
founder  of  the  freedom  of  his  people.  This  flag 
consisted  of  the  colors  of  the  Prince  and  what 
these  colors  were  is  shown  by  the  commands  of 
the  admiralty  of  Zealand,  published  in  1587, 
which  specifies  the  same  as  orange,  white  and 
blue.  Already  in  1 582,  at  the  time  of  the  arrival 
of  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  the  Netherlands  possessed 


74  Prince  of  Orange 

/ 

their  own  flag,  and  this  was  the  insignia  or  livery 
of  William  the  Silent;  orange,  white  and  blue, 
a  flag  borne  by  all  the  ships  of  the  young  repub- 
lic in  its  warfare  against  Spain.  The  cry 
1  Oranje  boven '  proves  that  the  orange  was  the 
topmost  color." 


Another  work  on  De  Nederlandsche  Vlag  by  C. 
De  Waard,  published  at  Groningen  in  1900,  es- 
tablishes the  fact  that  prior  to  1630  all  flags  used 
by  the  Dutch  were  orange,  white  and  blue,  and 
from  the  same  authority  it  appears  that  a  dark 
blue  rather  than  a  light  blue  was  the  shade  in  use. 

We  are  also  informed  by  Professor  Alexander 
Smith,  the  head  of  the  Department  of  Chemistry 
in  Columbia  University,  that  the  blue  from  indigo, 
whether  imported  from  India  or  Egypt  or  extracted 
from  the  plant  known  as  "woad, "  which  was  cul- 
tivated throughout  Europe,  was  the  only  fast  dye 
of  blue  color  which  was  known  in  1626  when  New 
Amsterdam  was  founded.  This  amounts  to  a 
demonstration  that  the  blue  of  the  original  Dutch 
flag  must  have  been  of  pure  indigo,  a  sample  of 
which  has  very  kindly  been  furnished  by  Professor 
Smith,  and  the  blue  bunting  in  the  specimen  flag 


Indigo  Blue  75 

herewith  submitted  has  been  specially  dyed  for  the 
purpose  and  exactly  matches  the  sample.  As  to 
the  correct  shade  of  orange,  there  has  been  no 
question,  and  it  is  believed  that  the  colors  in  the 
specimen  flag  are  all  exact  reproductions  of  those 
of  the  Dutch  flag  of  1626. 

In  the  opinion  of  your  committee,  the  combina- 
tion of  colors  represented  in  the  original  Dutch  flag 
has  everything  to  commend  it  for  adoption  by  the 
City,  viz.,  historical  association  extending  back 
to  the  very  beginning  of  the  settlement  of  New 
Amsterdam;  artistic  and  decorative  quality;  and 
originality  sufficient  to  distinguish  it  from  flags  in 
use  by  other  cities  or  countries.  As  a  matter  of 
arrangement  it  seems  desirable  and  in  accordance 
with  usage  that  the  colors  should  be  placed  in 
perpendicular  bars  rather  than  horizontal  stripes, 
the  blue  being  nearest  to  the  flag-staff.  It  also 
seems  fitting  that  the  seal  of  the  City  in  blue  should 
be  superimposed  upon  the  middle,  or  white  bar  of 
the  flag. 

Your  committee  therefore  recommend  the 
adoption  by  the  City  as  its  official  flag,  and  as  a 
substitute  for  the  flag  now  in  use,  a  flag  combining 


76  Proposed  Flag 

the  colors  orange,  white  and  blue,  arranged  in 
perpendicular  bars  of  equal  dimensions,  and  bear- 
ing the  seal  of  the  City  in  blue  upon  the  middle  or 
white  bar,  the  colors  to  conform  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible to  those  of  the  flag  of  the  United  Netherlands 
in  1626,  as  shown  in  the  sample  herewith  sub- 
mitted. 

Respectfully  submitted, 
John  B.  Pine 
I.  N.  Phelps  Stokes 
R.  T.  H.  Halsey 
Francis  C.  Jones 

Committee. 


IV 

ART  COMMISSION  OF  THE  CITY  OF 
NEW  YORK 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Art  Commission  of  the  City 
of  New  York  held  at  the  City  Hall  on  the  8th  day 
of  February,  1915,  a  report  was  submitted  by  a 
committee  of  the  Art  Commission  Associates  "On 
the  restoration  of  the  ancient  corporate  seal,  and 
the  adoption  of  an  official  flag"  by  the  City 
of  New  York  and  it  was  thereupon  unanimously 

Resolved  that  the  Art  Commission  accept  the 
report  of  the  Art  Commission  Associates  "On 
the  restoration  of  the  ancient  corporate  seal  and 
the  adoption  of  an  official  flag"  by  the  City  of 
New  York  and  heartily  approve  the  recommen- 
dations therein  contained;  and 

Resolved  that  the  report  be  printed  and  that 
copies  be  sent  to  the  Mayor  and  other  members  of 
the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  and 
to  the  Board  of  Aldermen;  and 

77 


78  Resolutions 

Resolved  that  the  Art  Commission  recommend : 

1.  The  adoption  by  the  City  of  the  model  of 
the  corporate  seal  of  the  City  herewith  submitted, 
as  the  official  design  of  such  seal,  the  same  to  be 
cast  in  bronze  or  other  permanent  form  and  kept 
in  the  safe  in  the  Mayor's  office,  and  the  adoption 
of  proper  ordinances  or  other  regulations  requiring 
that  hereafter  all  representations  of  the  seal 
whether  impressed  or  printed  on  City  documents 
or  publications  or  carved  on  City  buildings  shall 
be  in  exact  conformity  with  such  official  design. 

2.  The  adoption  by  the  City  as  its  official  flag, 
and  as  a  substitute  for  the  flag  now  in  use,  a  flag 
containing  the  colors  orange,  white,  and  blue 
arranged  in  perpendicular  bars  of  equal  dimensions 
(the  blue  being  nearest  to  the  flag  staff),  bearing 
the  seal  of  the  City  in  blue  upon  the  middle  or 
white  bar,  the  colors  to  conform  as  nearly  as 
possible  to  those  of  the  flag  of  the  United  Nether- 
lands in  use  in  1626. 

John  A.  Mitchell, 

Secretary. 


THE  MEANING  OF  THE  SEAL  AND  FLAG 

At  a  public  hearing  before  a  Committee  of  the 
Board  of  Aldermen  held  in  the  Aldermanic  Cham- 
ber on  March  22,  191 5,  Mr.  John  B.  Pine  as 
chairman  of  a  special  committee  appointed  by 
the  Art  Commission  Associates  gave  the  following 
explanation  of  the  report  of  the  Committee: 

The  design  for  a  City  seal  recommended  by  the 
Art  Commission  represents  a  conscientious  effort 
to  restore  the  ancient  corporate  seal  of  the  City  so 
far  as  that  is  possible.  It  is  in  no  sense  a  new- 
design  and  any  criticism  that  it  is  not  beautiful 
or  that  it  does  not  meet  heraldic  requirements  is 
irrelevant.  No  doubt  a  more  beautiful  seal  could 
be  designed  but  we  regard  it  as  of  far  more  import- 
ance to  perpetuate  the  seal  which  was  adopted  by 
the  Common  Council  in  1686  and  which  ever  since 
that  date  has  been  used  by  the  City  with  but  slight 

.79 


80  Model  of  the  Seal 

modification  as  the  symbol  of  its  corporate  entity. 
In  the  model  which  we  now  submit  Mr.  Paul 
Manship  has  given  his  services  to  our  Committee, 
and  has  furnished  a  reproduction  which  preserves 
both  the  form  and  spirit  of  the  old  seal.  The 
original  crest  was  a  ducal  crown,  in  recognition  of 
the  Duke  of  York,  but  in  1784  the  present  crest 
consisting  of  "a  semi-dome  with  a  soaring  eagle 
thereon  "  was  substituted  by  the  Common  Council. 
The  original  seal  bears  the  date  1686  when  it  was 
presented  to  the  City  by  the  then  Mayor,  but  we 
have  taken  the  liberty  of  substituting  the  date 
1664  when  the  City  passed  under  English  control 
and  was  named  "New  York." 

The  original  die  of  the  seal  has  long  since  been 
lost  or  destroyed  but  the  design  now  offered  has 
been  made  from  photographs  of  impressions  taken 
from  it  and  can  therefore  claim  to  be  authentic. 
Its  details  have  been  carefully  studied  from  con- 
temporary documents,  and  record  the  historic 
development  of  the  City.  The  beavers  which 
appear  on  the  shield  preserve  the  characteristic 
feature  of  the  coat-of-arms  granted  to  the  New 
Netherlands  by  the  States  General  of  Holland. 


Standard  Design  81 

The  windmill  and  flour  barrels  were  added  in 
1686  as  signifying  the  then  prevailing  commerce 
and  industry.  The  costume  and  head-dress  of  the 
Indian  conform  to  early  descriptions  and  drawings 
of  the  tribe  of  the  Manhattans,  a  branch  of  the 
Mohicans,  living  on  Manhattan  Island;  and  the 
sailor  who  appears  as  a  supporter  on  the  left 
of  the  shield  is  in  the  costume  of  an  English  sailor 
of  the  period,  having  in  his  hand  a  sounding  line, 
and  over  his  shoulder  a  "cross-staff,"  the  imple- 
ment by  which  the  early  navigators  determined 
their  latitude. 

The  general  characteristics  of  this  seal  have 
been  preserved  from  the  date  of  its  adoption  to  the 
present  time,  but  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained  there 
has  never  been  a  standard  design,  and  as  the  result 
a  wide  diversity  exists  in  the  imprints  of  the  seal 
appearing  on  the  official  publications  of  the  City 
and  its  departments.  Scarcely  any  two  of  such 
imprints  are  alike  and  many  of  them  misrepresent 
the  seal  in  important  particulars. 

It  will  no  doubt  be  conceded  that  the  seals  in  use 
by  the  City  and  its  departments  should  be  uni- 
form in  design,  and  it  is  for  the  purpose  of  estab- 


82  An  Official  Flag 

lishing  a  standard,  which  shall  be  historically 
accurate,  and  which  shall  preserve  both  the  design 
and  spirit  of  the  ancient  seal  of  the  City,  that  the 
Art  Commission  recommend  the  adoption  of  the 
model  now  submitted. 

Up  to  the  present  time  the  City  of  New  York 
has  never  possessed  an  official  flag  in  any  true  sense 
of  the  term.  The  flag  which  has  been  displayed 
on  the  City  Hall,  consisting  of  a  white  field  bearing 
the  seal  of  the  City,  was  never  formally  adopted  by 
the  City  authorities  and  had  no  distinctive  char- 
acteristic or  historic  association,  while  the  flag 
used  by  the  Mayor  and  known  as  the  "Mayor's 
Flag"  only  represents  the  Mayor  in  his  official 
capacity.  We  feel  that  the  City  should  have  a 
flag  which  is  distinctively  our  own,  which  shall  tell 
the  story  of  the  City's  origin  and  growth. 

At  our  suggestion,  the  Art  Commission  have 
recommended  for  adoption  as  the  official  flag  of 
the  City  of  New  York  the  colors  which  first  floated 
over  the  Island  of  Manhattan  nearly  three  hundred 
years  ago  when  a  little  band  of  Dutchmen  with  a 
courage  and  an  enterprise  which  have  never  been 
surpassed  braved  the  dangers  of  unknown  seas 


The  Dutch  Founders  83 

and  landed  on  these  shores.  It  is  to  the  cour- 
age and  the  enterprise  of  this  handful  of  men 
that  the  City  of  New  York  owes  its  beginning,  and 
it  is  largely  the  love  of  civil  liberty  and  the  ideals 
of  democratic  government  which  these  men 
brought  with  them  that  have  made  New  York 
the  great  city  which  it  is  to-day.  We  ask  you  to 
commemorate  this  service  and  to  embody  these 
ideals  in  the  official  flag  of  the  City. 

In  our  report  we  have  explained  in  detail  the 
investigation  which  we  have  made  to  ascertain 
the  history  of  the  flag  and  the  exact  colors  used 
by  the  United  Netherlands  and  the  Dutch  West 
India  Company  in  1626  as  shown  by  historical 
authorities,  which  we  have  had  translated  from 
the  Dutch,  and  to  verify  the  colors  by  the  best 
scientific  opinion.  There  was  no  question  that 
these  colors  were  orange,  white  and  blue,  but  as 
to  the  particular  shade  of  blue  there  was  some 
uncertainty.  This  we  have  removed  by  proving 
that  the  only  fixed  blue  dye  in  use  in  1626  was  a 
pure  indigo  blue,  whether  made  from  woad  or 
from  the  indigo  plant,  and  the  blue  bunting  in  the 
specimen  flag  which  we  submit  was  especially  dyed 


84  Original  Colors 

for  the  purpose,  a  pure  indigo  blue.  In  the  orange 
we  have  followed  the  distinctive  color  of  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  the  defender  of  the  liberty  of  the 
Netherlands.  We  believe  that  the  flag  now  pro- 
posed accurately  represents  the  original  colors. 
In  the  flag  of  Henry  Hudson  and  Peter  Stuyvesant 
the  colors  were  arranged  in  horizontal  stripes,  but 
we  have  placed  them  in  perpendicular  bars  as 
being  more  distinctive  and  as  affording  a  better 
opportunity  for  displaying  the  City  seal.  In  our 
flag  the  colors  are  Dutch,  the  arms  are  English, 
the  crest  is  distinctively  American,  but  the  flag 
as  such  is  the  flag  of  the  City,  which  has  grown 
from  these  beginnings  to  be  the  home  of  all  nations, 
the  great  cosmopolitan  city  of  the  world,  The  City 
of  New  York 

Chiefly,  however,  we  urge  you  to  adopt  the  flag 
of  orange,  white  and  blue  as  the  flag  of  The  City 
of  New  York  for  the  sake  of  its  meaning,  as  em- 
blematic of  the  courage  and  independence  which 
repelled  the  tyranny  of  Spain  and  founded  the 
Dutch  Republic,  and  which  gave  to  New  York 
as  its  birthright  free  government,  free  speech,  free 
commerce,  free  schools,  and  free  religion.     This 


Page  of  History  85 

flag  is  no  mere  decoration.  It  is  a  page  of  history 
and  its  colors  perpetuate  a  great  tradition.  It 
stands  for  liberty  and  law.  It  represents  the  basic 
idea  of  civil  government  which  the  founders 
brought  to  us  and  which  is  our  priceless  heritage. 
The  suggestion  made  by  the  Chairman  of  your 
Committee,  Mr.  Curran,  that  the  ordinances  re- 
establishing the  City  seal  and  adopting  the  flag 
shall  take  effect  on  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  the  installation  of  the  present  City 
government,  is  a  happy  inspiration.  No  more 
appropriate  date  could  be  selected,  and  it  should 
be  commemorated  in  a  manner  worthy  of  the  event. 


VI 

PROCEEDINGS   OF    THE   BOARD   OF 
ALDERMEN 

March  23,  1915. 

Report  of  the  Committee  on  Rules,  in  favor  of 
adopting  an  Ordinance  to  re-establish  the 
Corporate  Seal  of  The  City  of  New  York. 

The  Committee  on  Rules,  to  which  was  referred 
on  March  16,  191 5  (Minutes,  page  1594),  a  recom- 
mendation by  the  Art  Commission  to  re-establish 
the  corporate  seal  of  The  City  of  New  York,  re- 
spectfully 

reports: 

That,  at  a  public  hearing,  the  proposed  change 
was  urged  by  the  same  citizens  as  are  mentioned 
in  the  report  on  the  city  flag  (page  89) .  Great  care 
has  been  taken  to  have  all  representations  made  on 
the  model  for  the  seal  submitted  to  be  historically 
authentic  and  correct,  and  it  is  now  believed  that 

86 


Report  on  the  Seal  87 

the  seal  proposed  will  contain  all  those  features 
to  which  any  historic  authority  is  attached.  The 
ordinance  herewith  submitted  will  enforce  the  use 
of  one  design  on  all  City  documents.  The  Com- 
mittee recognizes  the  labor  attached  to  this  work, 
particularly  the  research  involved,  and  compli- 
ments the  Committee  in  charge  upon  the  result 
thereof. 

It  recommends  that  the  accompanying  ordinance 
be  adopted. 

[Then  follows  the  ordinance  as  adopted  on  this 
date.] 

Henry  H.  Curran,  Frank  J.  Dotzler,  John 
Diemer,  F.  H.  Wilmot,  O.  Grant  Esterbrook, 
Frank  L.  Dowling,  C.  Augustus  Post,  Committee 
on  Rules. 

Alderman  Curran  moved  the  adoption  of  said 
ordinance. 

The  President,  then  in  the  chair,  put  the  ques- 
tion whether  the  Board  would  agree  to  accept  said 
report  and  adopt  said  ordinance. 

Which  was  unanimously  decided  in  the  affirma- 
tive by  the  following  vote : 


88 


Roll  Call 


AFFIRMATIVE — ALDERMEN 


Bartscherer 

Duggan 

Mullen  (Frank) 

Bedell 

Dujat 

Mullen  (Jas.  F.) 

Benninger 

Ferguson 

Nugent 

Boschen 

Ferrand 

O'Rourke 

Bosse 

Eagan 

Ottes 

Brush 

Fink 

Pendry 

Burden 

Gaynor 

Post 

Burns 

Hannon 

Pouker 

Carberry 

Hogan 

Quinn 

Carroll 

Jacobson 

Reardon 

Chorosh 

Kenneally 

Robitzek 

Cole 

Kenney 

Rosenblum 

Colne 

Kochendorfer 

Schmelzel 

Cunningham 

Lein 

Schweickert 

Curran 

Levy 

Squiers 

Delaney 

McCourt 

Stapleton 

Diemer 

McGarry 

Stevenson 

Dixson 

McNally 

Taylor 

Donnelly 

Milligan 

Trau 

Dostal 

Molen 

Weil 

Dotzler 

Moore  (Chas. 

J.)  Wendel 

Dowling 

Moore  (Jesse 

D.)  Wilmot 

Report  on  the  Flag  89 

and  President  Connolly,  President  Mathewson, 
by  John  G.  Borgstede,  Commissioner  of  Public 
Works;  President  Pounds,  by  Edmund  W.  Voor- 
hies,  Commissioner  of  Public  Works;  President 
Marks;  the  Vice-Chairman;  the  President— 72. 

Report  of  the  Committee  on  Rules,  in  favor 
of  adopting  an  Ordinance  establishing  an 
Official  Flag  for  The  City  of  New  York. 

March  23,  1915. 
The  Committee  on  Rules,  to  which  was  referred 
on  March  16,  19 15  (Minutes,  page  1594),  a  recom- 
mendation, by  the  Art  Commission  on  the  adoption 
of  a  City  flag,  respectfully 

reports: 

That  the  Art  Commission,  through  Messrs. 
John  B.  Pine,  I.  N.  Phelps  Stokes  and  Francis  C. 
Jones,  and  Assistant  Secretary  Adams,  together 
with  Mr.  V.  H.  Paltsits  of  the  New  York  Public 
Library  (former  State  Historian);  Mr.  Guy  Van 
Amringe,  for  the  Saint  Nicholas  Society,  and  Dr. 
Edward  Hagaman  Hall,  for  the  American  Scenic 


9°  Report  on  the  Flag 

and  Historical  Preservation  Society,  appeared 
before  the  Committee  and  advocated  the  adoption 
of  the  design  presented  by  the  Art  Commission, 
which  is  also  endorsed  by  the  Colonial  Dames  of 
the  State  of  New  York.  The  Committee  believes 
that  a  City  flag  is  a  distinctive  advance  in  the 
cultivation  of  civic  pride,  and  that  the  one  recom- 
mended is  most  appropriate,  and  it  therefore 
recommends  that  the  accompanying  ordinance  be 
adopted. 

[Then  follows  the  ordinance  as  adopted  on  this 
date.] 

Henry  H.  Curran,  Frank  J.  Dotzler,  John 
Diemer,  F.  H.  Wilmot,  O.  Grant  Esterbrook, 
Frank  L.  Dowling,  C.  Augustus  Post,  Committee 
on  Rules. 

Alderman  Curran  moved  the  adoption  of  said 
ordinance. 

The  President,  then  in  the  chair,  put  the  ques- 
tion whether  the  Board  would  agree  to  accept  said 
report  and  adopt  said  ordinance. 

Which  was  unanimously  decided  in  the  affirma- 
tive by  the  following  vote: 


Roll  Call 


9i 


AFFIRMATIVE— ALDERMEN 


Bartscherer 

Duggan 

Mullen  (Frank) 

Bedell 

Dujat 

Mullen  (Jas.  F.) 

Benninger 

Ferguson 

Nugent 

Boschen 

Ferrand 

O'Rourke 

Bosse 

Eagan 

Ottes 

Brush 

Fink 

Pendry 

Burden 

Gaynor 

Post 

Burns 

Hannon 

Pouker 

Carberry 

Hogan 

Quinn 

Carroll 

Jacobson 

Reardon 

Chorosh 

Kenneally 

Robitzek 

Cole 

Kenney 

Rosenblum 

Colne 

Kochendorfer 

Schmelzel 

Cunningham 

Lein 

Schweickert 

Curran 

Levy 

Squiers 

Delaney 

McCourt 

Stapleton 

Diemer 

McGarry 

Stevenson 

Dixson 

McNally 

Taylor 

Donnelly 

Milligan 

Trau 

Dostal 

Molen 

Weil 

Dotzler 

Moore  (Chas. 

J.)  Wendel 

Dowling 

Moore  (Jesse 

D.)  Wilmot 

92  Report  of  Committee 

and  President  Connolly,  President  Mathewson, 
by  John  G.  Borgstede,  Commissioner  of  Public 
Works;  President  Pounds,  by  Edmund  W.  Voor- 
hies,  Commissioner  of  Public  Works;  President 
Marks;  the  Vice-Chairman;  the  President — 72. 

Report  of  the  Committee  on  Rules  in  favor  of 
revising  the  Ordinances  approved  on  April  6, 
1915,  re-establishing  the  Corporate  Seal  of 
The  City  of  New  York  and  establishing  an 
Official  City  Flag. 

April  27,  191 5 
The  Committee  on  Rules,  to  which  was  referred 
on  April  13,  1 91 5  (Minutes,  page  147),  An  Ordin- 
ance amending  an  Ordinance  relating  to  the  adop- 
tion of  an  official  flag  by  The  City  of  New  York, 
approved  April  6,  1915,  respectfully 

reports: 

The  ordinances  providing  for  the  adoption  of  an 
official  flag  by  The  City  of  New  York  and  the  re- 
establishment  of  the  original  corporate  seal  of  the 


June  24,  1 91 5  93 

City  which  were  adopted  by  the  Board  of  Aldermen 
on  March  23,  191 5,  and  approved  by  the  Mayor 
on  April  6,  19 1 5,  have  received  almost  universal 
commendations  from  the  press  and  from  the 
organizations  and  individuals  particularly  inter- 
ested, and  the  designs  so  adopted  have  been  gen- 
erally accepted  with  strong  expressions  of  approval. 

Certain  typographical  errors  which  have  been 
discovered  in  the  printing  of  the  ordinances  render 
it  necessary  that  these  errors  should  be  corrected, 
and  it  has  been  suggested  that  several  slight 
changes  be  made  in  the  wording.  Attention  has 
been  called  to  the  fact  that,  owing  to  the  change 
of  the  calendar  from  the  old  style  to  the  new  style, 
the  date  June  12th,  old  style,  is  now  June  24th 
under  the  new  style. 

It  has  also  been  suggested  that  when  the  design 
for  the  seal  is  used  on  the  City  flag  or  for  architec- 
tural or  ornamental  purposes,  the  legend  "Sigil- 
lum  Civitatis  Novi  Eboraci,"  is  superfluous  and 
detracts  from  the  design,  and  might  therefore  well 
be  omitted.  The  proposed  changes  involve  no 
material  alteration  in  the  design  of  the  flag  and 
seal  as  previously  recommended  and  adopted,  but, 


94  Ordinances  Revised 

in  the  opinion  of  your  Committee,  are  desirable. 

Your  Committee  therefore  recommend  the 
adoption  of  the  following  substitute  ordinances. 

Henry  H.  Curran,  Frank  J.  Dotzler,  John 
Diemer,  F.  H.  Wilmot,  O.  Grant  Esterbrook, 
Frank  L.  Dowling,  C.  Augustus  Post,  Committee 
on  Rules. 

Then  follow  the  proposed  ordinances  which  were 
adopted  in  the  form  of  an  amendment  to  Chapter 
I,  Article  2,  of  the  Code  of  Ordinances  of  The 
City  of  New  York,  as  printed  in  Chapter  VII. 


VII 


CODE  OF  ORDINANCES  OF  THE  CITY  OF 
NEW  YORK 

CHAPTER  I.      ARTICLE  2. 

§2.  City  Seal.  a.  Description.  The  corporate 
seal  of  The  City  of  New  York,  as  adopted  by  the 
common  council  on  July  24,  1686,  with  the  altera- 
tion adopted  by  the  common  council  on  March 
16,  1784,  is  hereby  re-established,  and  the  follow- 
ing device  is  hereby  adopted  as  the  device  of  said 
seal,  to  wit: 

Arms:  Upon  a  shield,  saltire-wise,  the  sails  of 
a  windmill.  Between  the  sails,  in  chief  a  beaver, 
in  base  a  beaver,  and  on  each  flank  a  flour 
barrel ; 

Supporters:  Dexter,    a    sailor,    his    right  arm 

bent,  and  holding  in  his  right  hand  a  plummet; 

95 


96  City  Seal 

his  left  arm  bent,  his  left  hand  resting  on 
the  top  of  the  shield;  above  his  right  shoulder 
a  cross-staff.  Sinister,  an  Indian  of  Man- 
hattan, his  right  arm  bent,  his  right  hand 
resting  on  the  top  of  the  shield,  his  left  hand 
holding  the  upper  end  of  a  bow,  the  lower 
end  of  which  rests  on  the  ground.  Shield  and 
supporters  resting  upon  a  horizontal  laurel 
branch; 

Date:  Beneath  the  horizontal  laurel  branch 
the  date  1664,  being  the  year  of  the  capture 
of  New  Amsterdam  by  the  English  and  the 
first  use  of  the  name  of  the  City  of  New 
York; 

Crest:  Upon  a  hemisphere,  an  American  eagle 
with  wings  displayed; 

Legend:  Upon  a  ribbon  encircling  the  lower 
half  of  the  design  the  words  "Sigillum  Civitatis 
Novi  Eboraci"; 

The  whole  encircled  by  a  laurel  wreath. 

b.  Design.  The  following  design  is  hereby 
adopted  as  the  official  and  standard  design  of  such 
corporate  seal : 


Custody  of  Seal 


97 


c.     Execution  and  custody  of.    The  city  clerk 

shall  cause  to  be  executed  and  cast  in  bronze  a 

model  of  the  foregoing  design  as  the  standard 

corporate  seal  of  the  city  and  shall  keep  the  same 

in  his  custody.    The  city  clerk  shall  also  cause  the 

said  design  to  be  engraved  in  accurate  conformity 

therewith  upon  metal  as  the  seal  of  the  city  and 

shall  keep  and  affix  the  same,  as  provided  in  §31 

of  the  charter;  and  he  shall  also  provide  in  the 

same  manner  for  all  other  officers  of  the  city  who 

are  required  or  authorized  by  law  to  have  or  use 

the  corporate  seal  of  the  city. 
7 


98  Use  of  the  Seal 

d.  Date  of  effect  and  use  of.  On  and  after 
June  24,  1 91 5,  the  said  seal  shall  be  used  for  all 
requisite  purposes  and  all  representations  of  the 
seal  of  the  city  impressed  or  printed  on  and  after 
said  date  on  documents,  publications  or  stationery 
issued  or  used  by  or  in  the  name  or  under  the 
authority  of  the  city  or  of  any  borough  or  depart- 
ment thereof,  or  carved,  or  otherwise  represented 
on  buildings  or  structures  owned  by  the  city;  or 
otherwise  officially  portrayed  shall  be  in  exact 
conformity  with  the  aforesaid  standard  design 
without  alteration  or  addition,  except  that  the 
legend  "Sigillum  Civitatis  Novi  Eboraci"  may  be 
omitted  when  the  design  is  used  on  the  city  flag  or 
for  architectural  or  ornamental  purposes .  The  seals 
now  in  use  by  the  city  clerk  and  by  any  other  city 
officers  shall  be  defaced  and  cancelled  on  said  date 
by  the  city  clerk  and  shall  remain  in  his  custody. 

§  3.  Official  City  Flag.  The  following  design 
is  hereby  adopted  as  the  design  of  the  official  flag 
of  the  city  and  as  a  substitute  for  the  flag  now  in 
use,  to  wit : 

A  flag  combining  the  colors  orange,  white  and 
blue,    arranged   in   perpendicular   bars   of   equal 


City  Flag  99 

dimensions  (the  blue  being  nearest  to  the  flagstaff) 
with  the  standard  design  of  the  seal  of  the  city 
in  blue  upon  the  middle,  or  white  bar,  omitting  the 
legend  "Sigillum  Civitatis  Novi  Eboraci,"  which 
said  colors  shall  be  the  same  as  those  of  the  flag  of 
the  United  Netherlands  in  use  in  the  year  1626. 

§  4.  Mayor's  Flag.  The  official  flag  of  the 
mayor  shall  be  the  same  in  design  as  the  official  flag 
of  the  city,  except  that  upon  the  middle  or  white  bar 
there  shall  be  above  the  design  of  the  seal  in  a  semi- 
circle, five  blue  five-pointed  stars,  typifying  the  five 
boroughs  of  the  city ;  the  dimensions  of  such  flag 
shall  be  thirty-three  inches  by  forty-four  inches. 

§  5.  Flags  and  decorations  on  City  Hall.  All 
power  and  authority  to  display  flags  or  other 
decorations  on,  in  or  about  the  City  Hall,  or  other 
public  buildings  within  the  City  Hall  park,  is 
hereby  vested  in  the  mayor,  unless  otherwise 
ordered  by  the  board  of  aldermen,  by  a  vote  of  a 
majority  of  all  the  members  elected  to  the  board. 

Adopted  by  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  April  27, 

1915. 
Approved  by  the  Mayor,  May  1,  1915. 


The  Seal  of  The  City  of  New  York 

Cancelled  by  Ordinance  on 

June  24,  19 15 


ANNIVERSARY  COMMITTEE 
Appointed  by  the  Mayor 


George  McAneny, 

Chairman 
Mrs.  Robert  Abbe 
John  Quincy  Adams 
Cyrus  Adler 
Louis  Annin  Ames 
Frank  L.  Babbott 
Willard  Bartlett 
Howard  R.  Bayne 
Daniel  M.  Bedell 
Gerard  Beekman 
Henry  L.  Bogert 
George  C.  Boldt 
Reginald  Pelham  Bolton 
John  H.  Boschen 
Robert  H.  Bosse 
Elmer  E.  Brown 
Arnold  W.  Brunner 
William  D.  Brush 
George  W.  Burleigh 
Howard  Russell  Butler 
Nicholas  Murray  Butler 
Beverly  Chew 
Joseph  H.  Choate 


Thomas  W.  Churchill 
Theodore  W.  Compton 
Maurice  E.  Connolly 
Robert  Grier  Cooke 
Mrs.        Maria        Duane 

Bleecker  Cox 
Henry  H.  Curran 
Gherardi  Davis 
Vernon  M.  Davis 
Robert  W.  de  Forest 
John  Diemer 
Frank  L.  Dowling 
William  Duggan 
Edward  Eichhorn 
O.  Grant  Esterbrook 
John  S.  Gaynor 
Cass  Gilbert 
Edward  Hagaman  Hall 
R.  T.  H.  Halsey 
James  Hamilton 
A.  Augustus  Healy 
Mrs.  A.  Barton  Hepburn 
Charles  G.  Hine 
Oscar  Igstaedter 


IOI 


102  Anniversary  Committee 


Henry  P.  Johnston 
William  A.  Johnston 
Francis  C.  Jones 
Robert  D.  Kohn 
George  F.  Kunz 
Henry  M.  Leipziger 
Goodhue  Livingston 
Seth  Low 

Charles  J.  McCormack 
St.  Clair  McKelway 
Mrs.   James  Allen  Mac- 

donald 
Marcus  M.  Marks 
Douglas  Mathewson 
Richard  W.  Meade 
Sidney  E.  Mezes 
Adolph  S.  Ochs 
Victor  Hugo  Paltsits 
William  H.  Pendry 
John  B.  Pine 
Hyman  Pouker 
Lewis  H.  Pounds 
Frederic  B.  Pratt 
Ralph  E.  Prime 
Ralph  Pulitzer 
Leo  L.  Redding 
William  C.  Reick 
Ogden  M.  Reid 


Philip  Rhinelander 

T.  J.  Oakley  Rhinelander 

Herman  Ridder 

Elihu  Root 

Theodore  Rousseau 

Henry  W.  Sackett 

Mrs.  Russell  Sage 

Arthur  F.  Schermerhorn 

F.  Augustus  Schermer- 
horn 

Miss  Louisa  Lee  Schuyler 

Patrick  J.  Scully 

Frederick  H.  Stevenson 

Edward  W.  Stitt 

I.  N.  Phelps  Stokes 

Mrs.  William  C.  Story 

Charles  W.  Stcughton 

Charles  H.  Strong 

Mrs.  Edward  N.  Town- 
send,  Jr. 

Guy  Van  Amringe 

Mrs.  Schuyler  Van  Rens- 
selaer 

Cabot  Ward 

Harry  W.  Watrous 

Jacob  A.  Weil 

Alfred  T.  White 

William  G.  Willcox 


PLATE    VI 


>DOQDOV10i2Q^S3000QiQrQ] 


IN  COMMEMORATION  OF 
THE 


OF  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  ON 

JUNE-  24  •  1663 

OF  MUNICIPAL  GOVERNMENT  UNDER 

THE  MAYOR  AND  BOARD  OF  ALDERMEN 

OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 

AS  SUCCESSORS  IN  OFFICE  TO 

THE  BURGOMASTERS  AND  SCHEFENS 

OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM 


Bronze  Tablet  in  the  City  Hall 


Anniversary  Committee  103 


EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE 

George  F.  Kunz,  George  W.  Burleigh, 

Chairman  Secretary 

Richard  W.  Meade,  Treasurer 


John  Quincy  Adams 
Frank  L.  Babbott 
Reginald  Pelham  Bolton 
Henry  H.  Curran 
Gherardi  Davis 
Frank  L.  Dowling 
Edward  Hagaman  Hall 
Francis  C.  Jones 


Henry  M.  Leipziger 
Victor  Hugo  Paltsits 
John  B.  Pine 
Henry  W.  Sackett 
Edward  W.  Stitt 
Guy  Van  Amringe 
Alfred  T.  White 


tl*5 


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